Sixteen Minutes

16th December, 2012-Nirbaya’s  death, three years have gone since then. One among the six  people responsible for her killing  has already committed suicide. Four  people have been given the death sentence. As  one of them was  a 'minor',  he was given a three year jail term that ends on 20 December, 2015.

He should not be released.  He should also be given the death penalty or at least the  life imprisonment -   fierce arguments were made almost every day in  the country's major  TV  channels. In addition,  "Facebook", "Twitter" were also reviewing the death of Nirbaya. But, none  was not ready to talk about  the minor boy in a way that would consider some relief for him.

It is no exaggeration if  we say that Nirbaya's  death has influenced the minds of  large section of the population  and engaged their attention for a long time too.   

I just googled  and found that  after the incident, for  nearly three months, intense debates, experts' analysis and discussions were  held  in almost all the  main TV channels. Then,  a long pause.   After the first year, discussions, debates about Nirbaya and juvenile crimes resumed  and continued for  two to three days. Then another pause.  Similarly,  at the end of the second year,  similar debates and  the same pause  again. Now, after the third year, the Minor boy who killed her completed his term of three years of imprisonment and will be released from jail on  20th December, 2015.  This time,  more serious discussions and debates  started well before the deadline date (or lifeline for the minor boy) and it has caught the attention of many. Arnab Goswamis, Sardesais of  popular TV  channels were discussing the issue more intensely than ever before, interviewing the parents of Nirbaya, passing their own value judgements and comments on the issue. Nirbaya's parents too wanted the young man(now a major), should also be given the same punishment as other three and not allowed to come out of the jail. In this case, the young boy's parents did not have any opportunity  to talk their mind out to the public.

According to the information on juvenile crime in the country published in a daily,  in  the year 2014, among other reasons, cases of rape and sexual attack on women were reported to be  approximately 10.6% of the crimes by the minors on women, young and old. The punishment given to the guilty ranged from  forgiveness, warning and sending them to  rehabilitation centers.  So far, no juvenile crime attracted such attention as Nirbaya's death got.

If I say these things, please for a moment,  do not think that I  was giving my  approval for  such  gruesome acts. I just tried to imagine  the matter in a slightly alternate angle.

I share my imaginative thoughts with you.

What follows is  my own imagination only.

*********

20 December, 2015

The young man, Unmaatan (fictional name) was brought out of the  Tihar jail. His face covered with a soft cloth  so that it was not visible for  those outside, but he could see the people outside through it.  There was a  huge police force deployed and  moving around him.

Outside the prison, a large crowd of people were waiting eagerly to see him coming out.  A large number of them  were shouting slogans and showing placards seeking life imprisonment, if not death penalty for him.

Besides them, news reporters from major TV channels  were also waiting  with their video cameras ready for a live  coverage of the event.

Suddenly, from the crowd, a middle-aged man and woman came out shouting 'Unmaata'.  They tried to push themselves through the crowd and  rushed towards him. . The young man turned in the direction of the voice coming.

The people assembled there, the TV  journalists  were very much surprised with what they saw.  So far,  it  was unknown to the world outside - who was he,  what was his name and who were all his family members-  suddenly they saw the truth unfolding in front of them.  Watching them from a distance, Unmaatan called back loudly  "Mom, Dad'' and waved his hands towards them..

There was sudden silence for a few minutes. The people watching the event were awestruck by this unexpected turn of events.

Police officers did  not allow  the couple to go forward  and stopped them. Suddenly, both of them  fell at their feet and  begged to be allowed to talk with their son.  Police officers did not know what to do. Seeing this  commotion  from a distance a senior police officer  came there to the rescue of other policemen.  

He also told the  couple about his inability to allow them to  see or talk to their son.  They  repeated the same method which they adopted earlier and  fell on the feet  of the officer and   pleaded with him for  his permission to speak with their son  just for a few minutes. The officer was in a  dilemma.

He thought for awhile and said, "Well, only  a few minutes; I  will allow  you both to talk to your son. But, you should meet and talk to him only in our  presence".

They agreed and virtually ran towards their son.

.

Meeting Unmaatan,  they held his  hand firmly and began to cry and speak simultaneously. They rubbed his face with their hands.  He embraced them.

It was clear for all that he was also emotionally caught and started crying and conversing with. his parents.

The TV reporters were  inwardly very happy  as direct telecasting of such an event  would increase their 'TPR rating ".

Seconds changed to minutes. The  Police officer became  impatient.

"I just allowed some minutes of time for you to meet and talk to him. It is now fifteen minutes since I allowed you.  That is all.  Both of you leave",  he shouted at them and  ordered  them to move away immediately.

They pleaded, 'Sir, the last one minute, we will leave'.

 "They told him, Unmaata, today is  Sunday.  we know your favourite sweet  dish is  'milk keer'  and we have brought just for you, our dear son',  and  so saying  opened a flask and gave it to him to drink the keer from it.

'Is it!  thank you amma'. He picked up the flask from his mother and gulped the keer in one go .   'I will be back in a few months,"  he said  and moved away with the police officers.

Watching the couple quickly moving out of that place, some of the TV reporters rushed towards them and  began asking them various types of questions.  The couple did not respond to their call and ran towards the auto-rickshaw waiting outside.  In a matter of seconds  they vanished  from there.  From where did they come?  Where were they going from here?  Without giving any clue to these questions,  they just disappeared.

******

A flash back

One year before the Nirbaya incident.

.

A village in Bihar.

Unmaatan, in anger,  picked up a fight with his mother Maagee  and stormed out of the house, throwing the food plate out of the window.

He demanded a hundred rupees for his expenses. As she did not have the money to give him, he became furious and shouted at his mother and left it in a huff.

As  he has done like this a number of times in the past, his mother  Maagee  did  not  bother herself much with such action of her son and  ignored it.

In his childhood, Unmaatan was good at his  studies  and a loving child too.  Before leaving for school, he used  to come to his mother, holding her hands he would fondly say, 'Mom, please do not forget to take your medicines. Your health will be fine, do not worry'.  Such  gestures of Unmaatan  were very comforting for her.

On Sundays, she will  invariably prepare milk keer as it was one of his favourite dishes.  He was their only child. He was their only hope.

Raman Pandey, his father worked  as a  security guard  in a private firm. He worked more on night shifts as his duty demanded. Raman Pandey's income was just sufficient to meet the  expenses for the house and Unmaatan's  studies.  It was just enough for running their household. 

For the last one year, there was a perceptible change in the attitude of Unmaatan, the way he conducted himself with his parents, his rude behaviour with them. These caused quite a concern for the parents.  They could see that his  association with some of the boys in the area was the root cause of this unruly behaviour of Unmaatan.  So, they had almost decided  to move  out of the village and go to another.

***

.

'What, now it seemed to Maagee,  the time was going  pretty  slowly. Household chores were over quickly.  She felt as though  a cold wind was blowing through the house and, then  a heavy and  hot air was hitting hard alternately'.

.

Maagee sat on the floor  and  munched with varied  thoughts. There was a weariness on her face.

The village was slowly slipping into the  night.

Now, it is  nine in the night.

Unmaatan  was yet to  return  home.

In the last count,  he talked over the mobile around a quarter to seven o'clock. After that, the network was not available. Again and again, same  answer was coming whenever she tried to talk to him over the mobile.

Raman Pande  had gone to his night duty.  

As the time trickled, she  was a little scared. She went  to the bus stop nearby and waited for him. There was no sign of his returning that night.  It increased her concern.

She phoned up Raman and expressed her  concern. He ignored it as such incidents had taken place before also with Unmaatan not returning home till late night. He just comforted  his wife  Maagee  and continued with his work.  She wanted to go to the nearest police station to enquire about him. But for some reason, she  changed her mind and came back home.

It was past  eleven o'clock in the night.

No news about Unmaatan. The night was her only companion.She did not know what to do. Again, she phoned her husband  and expressed her concern. He again excused himself and  inability to come immediately.

She was sleepless and feeling  fatigue and it  increased her concern.

Raman,usually will return around  eight in the morning the next day. That day, he returned early around  four o'clock itself.

Unmaatan did not return home yet. Whom to talk to?

.

A month later, they received a letter from  Unmaatan, saying that he has gone to Delhi and found a work for him there. They did not know what to do and  they resigned to the fate of having lost their only son.

***

Nowadays, for  Maagee and, Raman,  watching TV regularly was  the only entertainment - particularly watching serials and news from various channels.

.

On one such day, they watched the news of  the murder of Nirbaya.   They too, like others who saw the news, felt very sad for the brutal end of a young woman.

Suddenly, one day, two police officers came to their house, enquiring  about Unmaatan, their relationship with him.  For them, it seemed that his soul passed away from them. The police officers collected  copies of his  birth certificate and  information about his education and left.

From then on, the poor couple  reduced their movements  outside  their house.  The neighbours started  asking uncomfortable questions about Unmaatan.  The TV became  their sole companion. As they were watching the events on Nirbaya, they came to know the atrocities of the five murderers which included their son, Unmaatan. His gruesome role in the murder made them feel sick in the pit of their stomach. It was shocking first, then, a sense of shame engulfed them.

One day, they watched the news that Unmaatan was given just three years of imprisonment as he was still a minor by age. Others were given death penalty. They felt somewhat relieved on hearing this news.  After he was sent to jail, they went and met with him twice or thrice. But, on no occasion, he seemed to have expressed his regret.

Around the same time, parents of Nirbaya and others were expressing their anguish and strongly expressed that Unmaatan should be given at least the life imprisonment as he will be a great threat to the society if he was allowed to come out of the jail.

Watching such debates often and again and again,  made Maagee and Raman  feel that Unmaatan will not be able to lead his normal life even if he were to come out of the jail. They also felt very sad that heinous act of Unmaatan has ruined one good family.

The three years almost rolled by. Unmaatan was about to be released from the jai. Thoughts of his coming back haunted them and they felt that even if would like to get back home, the villagers may not allow him to come here and live with them. They started believing  that living lost its purpose.

Helplessly, they awaited the day of release of Unmaatan from the jail.

*****

Now, let us get back to the main story.

Unmaatan boarded the police van and it went away from there. The van  moved at its pace and the policemen seemed to relax for a while. He was taken to an unknown destination as directed by the superior officers.  About half an hour since the van left the jail premises, suddenly, Unmaatan felt uneasy and fell on the seat. His limbs were becoming cold. The policemen accompanied him panicked. They rushed him to a Government Hospital nearby. The doctor who examined him pronounced him dead  about half  before  he was brought to the hospital. The doctor also ordered an autopsy on the body of Unmaatan to ascertain the cause of death as required. The policemen were in a fix and feeling very nervous as they did not expect this development.

About five to six kilometers from there, Maagee and Raman were continuing their journey in the auto-rickshaw. They were talking to each other in a very hussed voice. But, abruptly, conversation stopped and the driver just turned around and saw that both of them were unconscious with their heads loosely falling back and forth. He felt the chill in his spine. He stopped the auto-rickshaw  and tried to wake them up. But, it was of no use. He rushed the auto-rickshaw to a hospital nearby. He summoned a doctor who initially refused to attend to the case but agreed reluctantly. After examining both of them, he informed the driver that both of them were already dead. He directed the driver to inform the  police  immediately and take further action.

The news of the death of Unmaatan and his parents spread like wild fire and the TV channels were flashing the news with whatever information they could get about the incident.

On watching this news, Nirbaya's parents too were shocked as they did not expect such an end would come to the young man and his family. They had hopes that Unmaatan would get extended term of stay in the jail; but, they did not expect that his parents who were innocent would also end their lives.

The TV channels started with a new vigour  with  discussions by experts, debates, survey analysis and  in a variety of ways about the death of Unmaatan,

The politicians though felt sick of this development moved swiftly to attend to their other important work in the Parliament, keeping aside for the time being, the larger issue of dealing with the subject on atrocities on women, juvenile crime and other related matters.

******