The Curse of That Night (11 page)

Chapter 20

Darsh

Darsh felt alone, cold, and hungry. His only sister, his life was raped. He couldn’t trust anyone anymore. People were giving him and his sister ugly stares and making even uglier comments. Darsh just wanted to disappear, but there was nowhere to go, no one to call, just nothing. He would survive a day, hoping tomorrow will be better, but by the end of it, he felt even worse than ever. Darsh wanted to give up, but he had nothing left to give. He wanted those men behind bars or worse, DEAD.

What a brother could do, he too did the same. Assuring Aarti that, she was not to be blamed for it. He had to do this often as Aarti might try to work out why she was the victim of sexual assault and get more depressed. He even reassured her that he will be by her side no matter what.

“My door is always open Chutki
,
please talk to me,” he would say, but in vain, with no response from Aarti.

He never expected this from Abhijeet.

“Money, money was all he cared about? How could he just refuse to help Aarti?” Darsh felt disgusted.

“Darsh, the doctor has confirmed rape,” said Malvika.

Darsh was not in a position to reply.

“We need to make it big, Darsh. We have to reach the masses, else the authorities will never listen to us,” she convinced.

“But, madam.”

“You trust me Darsh?” asked Malvika.

“Yes, I do,” replied Darsh.

“Then wait and watch. Those assholes will be behind bars in a few days,” said Malvika.

“Hey, Abhay!” she called up someone.

“Oh, Hi, Malvika! Wassup?”

“
Yaar
, I need a favour from you,” she said.

“Yeah, go on.”

And she told him everything. Darsh wondered why?

“Hmmmm… so, you want this news to be on the front page of my newspaper,” asked Abhay.

“Exactly!”

“But Malvika, without any evidence how can we write such an article against Omi Yadav. We are talking about the MLA’s son!”

“You leave that on me,” she assured him.

“Ok, done,” said Abhay and disconnected.

Darsh looked at Malvika.

“Madam, will she be fine?” asked Darsh.

“Yes, she will be, Darsh,” said Malvika.

Another shame case for Delhi

NEW DELHI:
It is common knowledge that women who are subjected to sexual harassment are looked upon not as victim but as abettor, if not perpetrator, of the crime. It is still more so if the rapist belongs to any power lobby.

According to the sources, a 17 year old college girl was kidnapped and confined at a secluded place, only to be gang raped by three persons who later threw her from the car on road, from where she was taken to the hospital and was refused medical attention.

An eye-witness has confirmed the car to be of Omi Yadav. Son of MLA, Sunil Yadav.

Indian police is still regularly criticised for failing to take these alleged rape cases seriously, especially when a big public figure is involved, despite the outcry over the safety of women in recent months. They are also often accused of using rough tactics to secure confessions.

Now the point is, will this girl get justice?

Chapter 21

Aarti

She didn’t know where she was born because she was too young when her parents died and she and her brother came to Delhi. Darsh was the one who took care of her until she grew old enough to take care of herself. Darsh was a strong person. But, this incident shattered him completely from within.

Delhi was considered to be ‘
Dilwalo ki Dilli’,
Delhi that gave abode to everyone, didn’t treat Aarti and Darsh well, initially, but Aarti somehow fell in love with the beauty of the city, in a hope that one day this very city would return that love.

Darsh used to work as a labourer in a sugar mill. He continued doing some menial jobs too like picking up rags for the municipality, or taking care of small children of the rich and in return he used to get enough food to feed Aarti, if not himself. Life was a continuous struggle, for food, shelter, comfort, respect, but Aarti never complained. She made it a point to join school, study and fulfil all his brother’s dreams. But, she didn’t know that fate had something else in store for her, something worse. Well, worse than worst.

Aarti felt that Darsh had done everything possible for her and all she had given him was pain. She used to blame everything that had gone wrong with Darsh, his pain and helplessness on herself.

‘I should have taken care of the man whose sole reason of existence was I,’
this was something, still burning inside her.

It felt like, her heart was sagging down into an empty pit of darkness. It was like she would never get up again, once she falls down. The darkness was creeping in on her, as if she was dead.

“At least talk to me Aarti,” Malvika would say.

But, Aarti had nothing to say, nothing to talk about. Even a small flashback of the incident would shiver her to death.

She knew that she had to recover. She had to fight. Fight for Darsh. Fight for Malvika. And most importantly, fight for herself. Her own justice; her own self respect…

Chapter 22

Omi Yadav

Omi Yadav was a big name who controlled a major part of Delhi and just his name was enough to get things done. He was the guy who was the area leader, plus son of an MLA with not that much security around him. He was too proud to have people protecting him but still, there always used to be some of his
chelas
hovering around him. He would get up early in the morning, go to a local gym, have milk and work out for next few hours. Then he would pray for some time and start his day.

The initial part of his day included, taking a round of the whole area under his control to check if everything was in order and his subordinates were doing their job well. He used to travel in an open jeep and if there was trouble anywhere, he would personally go and bash up people and fix it up. He was a strong man who stood six feet. In the second half of the day, he used to visit the police station to check if everything was going on as required. There were hundreds of criminal cases pending against him and his father. He was quite friendly with some of the police guys and would have a couple of drinks with them just to make sure that they won’t be of any trouble to him and his gang. He would then go to a dance bar where he had a favourite girl.

On some days, he would kidnap a random girl from the local streets at night and then would rape her and sometimes kill her in the end.

Aarti was one of his victims. He didn’t know that she would file a complaint against him. He had no worries as such, as he usually got the work done by smaller gangs or his so called
chelas
as he considered himself too big to get into such stuff.

But he had to get into this one himself. All was handled properly, until that article came in the newspaper.

‘Malvika and Aarti. Both need to die,’
he thought.

And he made a perfect plan with a local goon cum killer…

Chapter 23

Malvika and Aarti

Malvika has always been a prudent driver, but now she was pushing her SX4 at over eighty as she fled up the empty streets. The clock showed 11:30 p.m. Aarti was sitting next to her, still in shock.

Malvika had taken Aarti to a nearby mall for shopping, basically to cheer her up a bit. Her trembling foot had been lodged on the accelerator for a full mile before her panic began to lift. She now realised her uncontrollable shivering was no longer solely from fear.

She was freezing… freezing from fear.

“Hello, Darsh. Someone just bashed our window in the parking area and is now following us. It doesn’t look good to me,” she said on phone.

“What? Malvika madam, your voice is not clear,” said Darsh.

“Fuck!” she said and cut the phone.

The night air was gushing through her shattered window,
buffeting her body. Her body was numb, and she reached down
to
pick up her phone and dial Abhijeet’s number. Yes she needed
him. As she did, she felt a stab of pain from the bruise on her throat, where the powerful hand latched on to moments before.

The scene at the parking lot, flashed back in front of her eyes…

As Malvika and Aarti were nearing towards their parked car, she heard someone’s footsteps quickly following them in the dark. She increased her pace. Now, she heard heavy footsteps accelerating in pursuit down the side of the parking area. The footsteps seemed impossibly fast.

‘We can never outrun him to the main entrance’, she thought. She knew her SX4 was closer, but even that would be too far.

She tried to scream, but that would only give their exact location to the man.

Now or never.

Instead of rounding the corner, Malvika suddenly cut hard to her left, towards her car. Aarti was blankly following her. She had no clue what was happening. And they ran like hell towards the car.

Her car keys were exactly where she always kept them in her hand bag. Breathless, she seized the keys in her trembling hands and found the ignition. The engine roared to life, and the headlights flipped on, illuminating a terrifying sight.

Malvika froze for an instant.

The man caught in her headlights was a killer with a gun in his right hand. He bellowed as he ran into the glare, raising his hands before his eyes. She reached for the gear but suddenly he was there, hurling elbow through her side window, sending a shower of glass into her lap. Aarti almost screamed.

A massive arm burst through her window, finding her neck. She threw the car in reverse, but the attacker got hold of her throat. She turned her head in an attempt to escape his grasp, and suddenly she was staring at his face.

“You filed a case against Omi bhaiya. Now bear the consequences. You gonna die,” he growled.

She smashed her foot onto the accelerator, and the car lurched forward. The car burst through the pathway and out into the upper parking lot, where Malvika slammed on the brakes. Below her, the killer clambered on his feet. He too got into his own car and revved up the engine.

Malvika’s blood coursed with raw fear as she spun the wheel and hit the accelerator. Seconds later, her car was running on the streets… ”

“Aarti you get down here,” said Malvika.

“But, what about you?” asked Aarti.

“I will take the next turn and meet you at home.”

“Ok,” said Aarti and got down.

As soon as Aarti was out of sight and safe, she pressed the accelerator hard. The killer was still following her.

As soon as Malvika took the turn, she didn’t expect what was coming. She locked eyes with the other driver. There wasn’t enough time to react. It happened so fast. The impact was so hard, that Malvika thought she was going to break into pieces. The pain was so excruciating. There was the sound of ripping metal, screeching tires, shattering glass and a scream. Malvika’s bloodcurdling scream. She felt her body slammed forward against the seatbelt, pieces of shattering glass pierced her arms and her head hit hard against the steering wheel. Her vision was filled with the colour red – blood. Then the world turned black…

“Don’t move,” said someone. The shock had made her delusional. She had no will neither power left to react, so she fell back.

“Madam, can you hear me? Take her to the hospital,” screamed someone else.

After a few minutes, she opened her lids with some comfort. She was in an ambulance. She closed her eyes and everything went numb…