THE INNOCENT CRIMINAL

Monday morning at 3:30 a.m., where everyone is sleeping peacefully with the curtains and windows closed to deafen the sound of falling raindrops and thunder in the city of Mumbai. But at that time, special inspector Ashlesh Kamle headed to the blue paradise bar and hotel in Cuff Parade to solve the most difficult case of his life. As they entered the lobby and lowered their umbrellas, the police team had lined up all the invited party guests and greeted him with a salute.

Sub-inspector Shinde said, 'Good morning, sir.'

'Isn't it a little early for a morning? What exactly happened that I had to be woken up at 3?'

'Well, sir, there has been a drugs bust. Cocaine, MDMA, Angel dust... a lot has been recovered. And a lot of high profile kids have been arrested. But that's not why commissioner sir told me to wake you.'

'Then what is?'

'There has been a rape, sir. In room 506.'

As they both entered the room, a girl covered in a blanket was crying in fear, with the lady constable and a doctor taking care of her. Shinde revealed, 'Sir, this is the girl. Name's Sonia Roy. She is a waitress/ singer at a bar in Churchgate. No family. She seems to be raped by some boy whom she came with to this room.'

'Where is the boy?'

'We have taken him into custody. His name is Nikhil Abhyankar. He recently started work at Intel. Normal middle class family. He claims that he is innocent... and that it was consensual sexual intercourse.'

'In simple words, it was not rape, but it was sex.'

With the investigation proceeding, the mystery surrounding as to what happened grew. The next day, both Shinde and Kamle collected all the facets and evidences. The defence counsel, Ajay Shivan and the public prosecutor, Sapna both examined all the facts, evidences, witnesses and prepared for the case. The eternal rivals, and old friends to Kamle, were both searching for their 50th victory.

On the first day in the fast track court, the prosecution began the proceedings with a bang.

‘Your honour, the prosecution will keep just three facts, with evidences that will make everything crystal clear. Number one, the accused was the one who decided to order the liquor for both. The credit card statement and the choice of drink were both the accused’s. And my client’s drink was the one which was spiked with drugs. Secondly, the medical reports clearly states the victim was raped, and the semen sample found on the bedsheet and in her body matches the accused. Thirdly, the clothes of both the male and female were found on the floor. But the female’s clothes were torn, while the accused’s clothes weren’t. But just before he could run away, the police raided the hotel and arrested him. With such strong evidences submitted, I request the accused to be booked under section 376.’

The judge then asked, ‘Defence counsel. Would you like to say anything?’

‘Yes, your honour. My dear friend, Ms. Sapna has stated a lot of things. But what I will tell this court about what I have found will astound you. Every crime is not what as it seems. Firstly, I would like to call Sonia’s best friend, Tina into the stand with your consent.’

‘Permission granted. Tina, step into the witness box!’

As Tina took the stand, Ajay began by asking, ‘Tina, you and Sonia work at the same bar and live in the same 2 bedroom apartment with 4 others, correct?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Don’t mind me asking but how much is your monthly income?’

‘7000 rupees.’

‘So collectively, all 6 of you earn 42,000 rupees per month. Then how is it possible that last month, you all managed to get the first-class furniture, along with a 42 inch plasma TV for your apartment… paid in all cash? Your honour, the bills and purchase date is there on your table?’

Tina remained quiet as she didn’t know what to say. But Dhananjay continued.

‘Tina, there is no point in hiding it! The police have recovered that laptop from your house which has the proofs of everything you six were really doing. We searched your house again and now I know everything. I have received the news, along with the proofs on my phone just 10 minutes ago.’

‘What are you talking about, Mr. Shivan?’, the judge asked, just before Inspector Ashlesh walked in with a laptop, and informed the judge, ‘Your honour, the police searched the victim’s house again this morning and has recovered this laptop. We would like this to be played in court, with your permission.’

‘Objection, your honour. The prosecution was not informed about this new evidence.’, Sapna interrupted.

‘Your honour, we recovered this laptop only 2 hours ago. And the evidence inside this is very important. Please!’, Ashlesh requested the judge.

‘I will allow. Objection overruled.’

As the laptop was opened… and the truth was shown on the TV screen, the entire court room looked at something they never expected to see. There were sex videos of the six girls with multiple boys of many age categories, along with images and photos. And the details of unnamed, foreign accounts along with passwords… which had 8.2 million euros in it.

‘What is this evidence, Inspector? Mr. Shivan, would you explain?’, the judge enquired.

‘Yes, your honour. Sonia, Tina and her 4 friends work at the same bar, live in the same rented apartment. But one thing that we found… is that all of them grew up in the same orphanage in Kolhapur, for 15 years. To the world, they are just waitresses. But this is only a cover for what they really do. They are a gang… called the six vixen. Often, they would go to discos, parties and pubs to find suitable boys… or targets. They would then seduce them into having sex after having a couple of hard drinks. The rooms that they would take them to, had cameras and microphones bugged. Following this, they would use these as means to blackmail the boys to extort huge sums of money. Am I right, Tina?!’

Tina nodded her head, as everyone in the court starred at her. Ajay then added, ‘All this money was kept in an unnamed, foreign Swiss account. The investigation that Inspector Kamle conducted proves that they have destroyed the lives of close to 99 boys… in the last 7 years. I think the rest we should hear it from Tina’s mouth, as to what happened that night.’

Then began Tina’s confession which took the entire court by surprise. ‘Like you said, we would often look for new targets. We are all so good looking that the boys would easily fall for our trap. That night, Sonia chose Nikhil. When he ordered the drinks, Sonia went to collect the drinks at the counter. Just before she gave it to him, she mixed a slight amount of strong drugs in it. Then as it took effect, she took him to the room herself. So that we can shoot the video and blackmail Nikhil.’

The answers became clearer.

‘But I don’t understand as to how Sonia became unconscious? And then the doors got locked… and he crushed our hidden camera. How did he know that we were after him?’, Sonia asked as she looked confused.

‘That’s because you didn’t find him. He found you all, Ms. Sonia!’, Ajay answered as the suspense grew.

‘What do you mean he found us?’, asked Sonia.

Ajay then turned towards his own client to unveil the secrets remaining.

‘Nikhil, I want you to be truthful and honest here. 2 years ago, your brother Rahul died… by committing suicide. What was the reason for that?’

Nikhil begged him, ‘Please, sir! Don’t ask me that. I can’t answer that question.’

‘Nikhil, you are my childhood friend. But I am a lawyer first. I need you to tell me this right now.’

‘Mr. Abhyankar, please answer his question.’

After crying and weeping for a minute, Nikhil revealed, ‘He killed himself because of the six vixen gang. One day, he was at a party, where a girl came and met him. They both got talking and flirting over a couple of drinks. She had spiked his drink… then this gang did the same exact thing as they have been doing. But my brother refused to pay the money and went to the police. So, they uploaded his video on the net. He couldn’t take this shame and… he killed himself.’

‘Who was that girl, Nikhil?’

‘Sonia.’, he silently whispered.

‘Louder, Nikhil.’

‘It was SONIA!’, he shouted, as the court was stunned and the people whispered amongst themselves.

‘Order, order! Silence, please!’, the judge exclaimed.

Ajay continued, ‘Your honour, my client knew very well that Sonia is the girl who was responsible for his brother’s suicide. He waited for 2 years as he searched for her. And one day, his patience bore fruit. He knew where Sonia and her friends would go and he started going to all those places… and waited for the day that Sonia would strike. That night, he switched the drinks that Sonia had brought from the counter, and pretended to be drugged. Is that right, Nikhil?’

‘Yes. Initially, I wanted to kill her. But I wanted her to feel the same pain that my family and I have gone through in the last 2 years. Your honour, in India, rape is often referred to as losing dignity, one’s respect being stolen. That’s what has happened to us ever since that day. People would laugh at us, taunt us and my dead brother, who was tricked by these six sluts/ criminals. Even if I had reported this to the police, I never could have had enough proof… and they wouldn’t have been punished like the way we were. So, I decided that I will do the same thing to them, what they have to our family and families like ours.’

‘So, you admit that you raped her, just to get revenge for your brother?!’, the judge asked.

‘YES! And I feel no shame, your honour. Because I raped a woman who deserved to be raped. I know that my feelings doesn’t justify my crime. I am willing to pay for that, ma’am. But for my brother… who was everything to me, I am willing to do anything.’

Ajay then explained, ‘Nikhil, I respect your feelings and emotions. But what you did to her that night, makes you no less of a criminal. Law and order in this country is still not dead.’ Then he turned to give his final submission.

‘Your honour, every rape case basically is of 2 types. One where there is a victim and a convict, other where the complaint is false and there is no rapist. But in this case, both the accused and the accuser are rapists in their own ways. It takes only a few minutes for a physical rape to happen. But the effects of the society on the victim continues forever, which is no less than a rape. And sometimes, a rape is something which can also happen psychologically. Regardless, whether a woman is a model, a common person, a prostitute, or even a criminal, no man has the right to rape her. What these girls have done was wrong… but so was what Mr. Abhyankar did. But Mr. Abhyankar is not a bad man, your honour. He is a good man whom bad things have happened to. He only did this to get even for his brother, not for pleasure or out of viciousness. The justice that was denied and delayed for so long, because of our poor judicial system. I hereby request the court that both Mr. Abhyankar and the six vixen gang should be punished accordingly for what they have done. I hereby, rest my case.’

After the prosecution rested her case without saying anything, the judge announced the landmark judgement.

‘This case is truly unique. And so is the judgement. After hearing all the facts and evidences, this court sentences Mr. Nikhil Dev Abhyankar under section 375 and 376 for rape and sexual assault, for 5 years. This court also finds Ms. Sonia, Tina and their four friends, also known as the six vixen, for blackmailing, creating sex videos and abetment to suicide, and sentences them for 25 years in jail. And all the victims that they have robbed and looted, they will pay each one of them compensation in damages. The police is ordered to collect the names of all the victims from the convicts, and each one’s names kept confidential. And they all should be compensated and given justice. The case is closed!’

The case saw no winning or losing lawyer. But truth and justice prevailed as a lot of innocent boys and families were given justice. And a rape victim, despite being a fugitive, was given justice as well with the rapist being punished for his sins.