Your Dreams Are Mine Now (12 page)

‘True! Now it is only a matter of time,’ Saloni said with joy. Everyone agreed.

When the gang arrived back on campus, they hung out for a while before they dispersed. Given the enormity of the moment, Arjun spoke a few words, ‘Guys we have done something great today. This was necessary. It is natural to feel a sense of fear, because we have done something secretly and also because we have stood against a powerful devil. But also understand, guys, that we have taken the best approach. We have done enough to mitigate our risks. The best way to put our fears to rest is by thinking that Mahajan wasn’t afraid of anyone before doing all the wrongs that he did. So why should we be afraid of doing the right thing?’

Arjun’s words not only comforted everyone but also rekindled their determination to fight against Mahajan. Their apprehensions had been taken care of and they were optimistic about the outcome.

Rupali was happy. Even though she hadn’t spoken, she appreciated Arjun’s leadership skills. She knew that it wasn’t the end of her fight for Raheema, but she reckoned that with Arjun’s help she had come a long way. Besides, it wasn’t only her fight now, she had friends on her side as well.

Soon, the five of them dispersed.

Back in their individual spaces, they waited to see the fruits of the seeds they had sown. The IT geek Madhab was the first to check the progress. As soon as he went online, he realized that Saloni was wrong when she had said that it was only a matter of time before the video would go viral.

It had taken no time at all.

Thirteen

There are fires that spread gradually. Then there are those fires that spread in no time. They offer no time to douse them and burn everything that comes in their way. The fire in DU, with Mahajan, the accounts professor, as its epicentre, was of the second type.

The extent to which things got raked up by the end of the next week was unimaginable, even to the ones who had started it. It was as if the university world had been waiting for the evidence. With anonymous, yet strong facts pointing towards Mahajan, luck seemed to have disowned him completely.

The morning after the video was uploaded on the Internet, Mahajan was the talk of the campus gatherings and discussions. A few tech-savvy youngsters had anticipated that with the number of views of the video over the Internet growing so fast, the sites might verify the content and pull it off. To overcome that, they recorded the video stream on to their devices. That’s how it moved from the Internet to cellphones. And then from one cellphone to another.

From the college’s Facebook page, the video made its way to DU’s Facebook page. It then landed into alumni networks from where it got pushed into their respective corporate circles. Its final destination was the news channels, where it became ‘Breaking News’. It wasn’t broadcast, but had become the subject of prime-time debate.

The sky had fallen over Mahajan’s head. Below his feet the earth too had moved. It was as if a calamity had engulfed him from all directions and he had nowhere to run. As if with passing time, misfortune was tightening its grip on him and was now preparing to swallow him.

Mahajan was not left with any time to investigate who was behind all this. Though he had a fair hunch that it might have been Rupali who, his followers had told him, had been seen with Raheema and Arjun. But there was no time to investigate that. Additionally, a local TV channel, for the sake of TRPs, claimed it as their own ‘sting operation’. Clearly Madhab’s idea of making a DVD and shipping it to that local channel had worked towards confusing the media and the public.

The letter that he posted along with the DVD had read: ‘This is a genuine recording. If you don’t believe it, then wait till tomorrow. It will be all over the Internet. Feel free to claim this recording and then break the story on your news channel. Don’t attempt to find out who I am.

A well-wisher of your channel.’

The channel, a sycophant of the party in opposition in the state, knew how to use every opportunity against the party in power. When backed by its promoters, the channel lambasted Mahajan, who was the ruling party’s right-hand man in DU, without giving it a second thought.

When one channel broke the story, others too wanted to play up the hype. Without investigating the source, they simply ran a ticker claiming that ‘The channel doesn’t vouch for the authenticity of the video’, and went ahead with Mahajan’s character assassination, debating how the whole education system had become corrupt.

Guided by the national media, there was public pressure not only to sack Mahajan but also to book him and throw him behind bars. In the normal course of the law for the latter to happen, an FIR had to be lodged. But without the victim coming forward, the question was—who would lodge the FIR? The opposition party leaders were willing. Clearly, they were more interested in playing opportunistic politics and weeding out Mahajan from the system. However, everyone believed that if the actual victim didn’t turn up and made a statement, it would only become a fragile case against Mahajan. So they appealed time and again for the victim to turn up.

In next three days, seven women turned up. They claimed to be the woman in the video. It turned out that all of them were fake—women bought by opposition party leaders only to start the proceedings. They were soon dismissed when the evidence did not coincide with what was being shown. Some women did not have the same physical appearance as the woman in the video. Some weren’t able to prove that they were on DU’s payroll. They also could not prove how they landed up inside the DU campus on the given day. The video had a date stamp.

Arjun and Rupali had never thought that what they had done would lead to a controversy of this magnitude. Everything they heard of and got to know came through public sources. No one knew about their hand behind all this. Rupali and her gang seamlessly mixed in the crowd protesting against Mahajan, as if they were just like them—people who first saw the video on the Internet. But the story of fake victims turning up to file the FIR bothered Rupali more than anyone else. Arjun had told her that if this continued, it would dilute such a strong case and only lead Mahajan to prove that all this was a conspiracy against him.

Because of the enormous interest the case had generated, and for the sake of his daughter Saloni, the renowned lawyer of the Delhi High Court, Kailash Chadda, came forward to help them. This happened when Saloni had gone home and told her father the truth. Instead of being angry with his daughter for jumping into this mess, he had supported her. He believed that she had, for the first time, taken a great stand in her life. He didn’t want to let her down. He’d therefore called Rupali and her newfound gang to his premises to talk to them. He told them of ways in which they can get away without making the victim file an FIR. There is a provision that any independent citizen of this country can step forward and lodge an FIR, he explained. And with the evidence in the public domain, it’s a lot easier to do so, he had said. That’s all one needs to kick-start the process. The victim is needed at a later stage when the court case begins.

‘But unfortunately the society we live in, unless one has some incentives he or she wouldn’t do so,’ he added.

But he also promised his daughter that once the FIR is filed, he would make sure that Mahajan is immediately booked and sent behind bars and then he will move court against him.

The very next day, a formal FIR was lodged in the police station of North Campus.

Once strong, the Mighty Mahajan, had now become a rat who didn’t dare step out of his house. Bad times are the true test of people who care for you. Sadly for Mahajan, there was no one to back him up. His wife had left him and gone home with the kids. Politically, too, he had been abandoned. Why would anyone want to sail on a sinking ship? For his political masters, instead of facing the issue it was a chance to sacrifice Mahajan and gain brownie points in the name of sympathy for women. And that’s what happened.

By the end of a weeklong public protest after the video was first posted, backed by strong media support, the opposition party’s demand and finally an FIR, Mahajan was arrested. A warrant had been issued against him in the high court. For that entire week, thankfully for Rupali and Arjun, nothing else happened in the country that took away the limelight from this issue. In various forums, in debates, in the media, the ‘University Account Professor’s Secret Class’ continued to be the topic of much discussion and anger towards the system.

The university, in one of its official statements, had announced the sacking of Mahajan. They were now looking for his replacement. Meanwhile, Mahajan in his misery, got busy moving to and fro between the court and the lock-up.

‘But one thing is not clear. Who would have lodged the FIR?’ Prosonjeet asked out of sheer curiosity. The newfound gang was celebrating their victory on the college rooftop.

‘Yes, even I was wondering the same,’ Saloni repeated. ‘May be one of the victims of Mahajan’s ill acts from the past? Anyway, we will get to know by tomorrow. For what this case has become now, it can’t remain a secret. Someone will break the story,’ Arjun said.

‘I lodged the FIR.’

Those words from Rupali stunned everyone. It took a moment for everyone to absorb this new bit of information.

‘What?’ Saloni said stepping closer to her roommate. She further held her shoulders.

‘Why did you do that?’ Arjun asked, his voice full of worry. He was worried about Rupali revealing her identity and taking Mahajan head on in the public sphere.

‘Why didn’t you ask me first?’ Saloni shook her shoulders.

Everyone waited for Rupali to speak up. And so she did.

‘I lodged this FIR in the capacity of an independent citizen of this country, just as your father suggested,’ she said looking at her roommate. Saloni was about to say something, but Rupali cut her off mid-sentence and continued to say, ‘If I would have asked you before doing so, I know you would have tried to stop me.’

The boys continued to listen in a state of surprise, while Rupali continued to clarify the matter.

‘In my FIR I haven’t claimed that I shot the video. I am not the victim as well. I just lodged an FIR based solely on the evidence in the public domain. No one really knows who actually shot the video and who uploaded the same. Our identities are still hidden. The world continues to believe it was that local TV channel. Many also believe that it’s a bunch of mischievous students. After what your father said, I kept thinking the whole night. And then this morning when I knew what I was going to do, I called up my baba. I didn’t want to do this without taking him into confidence. I explained to him all that had happened and my stand on this subject. It was only after about an hour-long discussion that he was convinced that I was right and I should do what I believed in. He said he is with me. I explained to him that I didn’t want to see Mahajan playing the victim card and make it seem like a conspiracy against him. I didn’t want him to escape. I also clarified that filling an FIR is only a mental block. When the evidence is in the public domain, filling an FIR against the culprit is merely a formality.’ She paused for a moment and then finished by saying, ‘Besides, I had to settle my equation with Mahajan. He had slapped me in his cabin. He should know that it’s my turn to even it.’

‘So you slapped him in public!’ Prosonjeet clapped appreciating Rupali’s guts. It changed everyone’s perspective.

The next morning DU acknowledged Rupali as its hero.

Fourteen

That day the first semester exams had got over. While Rupali believed that she had done fairly well in the rest of the subjects, it was statistics that hadn’t gone as per her expectations. But that wasn’t the reason behind her emotional state of mind that afternoon after writing her final test paper.

Scores of auto-rickshaws had lined up outside the campus and awaited their turn to drive inside the hostel. There was a constant stream of students coming out with their backpacks and rucksacks. Their faces radiated immense happiness. The joy of going back to their homes in the semester break was clearly visible on each and every face. Far away from the world of books and classes, celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with the family was on everyone’s mind.

The entire university awaits the winter break but no one more than the first year batch.

While they were waiting for their ride, they briefly discussed how the last exam had gone. They also chatted about who was going where, by which train and when they were planning to come back.

Most of them were to travel in groups, while some had to go alone. As they bid goodbye to each other, the auto-rickshaws drove them out of the hostel.

But unfortunately, unlike others, Rupali was not going back to her home town. The sudden news of a car accident in her extended paternal family had totally changed her vacation plans. The news of her relatives admitted in the ICU at a hospital in Kolkata had made her parents rush immediately to attend to the injured. They boarded the next available train. Tanmay too had left with them. With no immediate family members in Patna, it was meaningless for Rupali to go home. Moreover, with such short notice, there were no seats available in trains from Delhi to Kolkata. Rupali had no choice but to stay back in Delhi.

Seeing off her batchmates and watching them leave the campus one by one, had left her sad. Just like them, she too wanted the joy of going back to her home town and spending the holidays with her family.

She watched Saloni pack her bags too. Her family had planned a two-week holiday in Australia. She was going to join them. For the sake of giving her roomie company for a little more time, she had asked her father to send the driver late in the evening.

They chatted happily about the college and their friends as the two of them stepped out and walked towards the mess. And just like that, Rupali turned around to look at their hostel block. Unlike other evenings, now only a handful of rooms were lit against the dark evening sky. She sighed. She could actually count them on her fingers.