The humane side of policemen(972)

 

The previous story had a negative perception of constabulary. In this story, the humane and compassionate side of policemen has been brought out.

The inspector of police was about to leave the police station for home. A constable came in to announce that a young lady wanted to see him urgently. She soon came behind him, a young lady in her late twenties. She seemed educated and spoke flawless English. The inspector was an elderly man about to retire in a year with a daughter of her age and a son well-settled.

Asked what brought her to the station, she said coolly, “I am in the adjacent complex. I wish to speak to you alone if I am allowed,”

The inspector gestured for the constable to leave the room and said,” Tell me now.”

 “I have poured acid on my husband’s face when he was asleep. He is writhing in pain at my home.”

The inspector could not believe his ears till she assured him that it was a fact. The inspector asked her to wait and remain silent. He arranged to send immediately a SI with a constable in a jeep to her home to admit the man in agony in a hospital.

Once this was taken care of, he asked her to sit down and narrate the events as they happened. After a glass of water, she said” I am a postgraduate in Botany and am a lecturer in a college. I made the mistake of falling in love with this man whom I married later. He was an exceptionally handsome guy, with an infectious smile, slightly effeminate, suave in manners and an engaging conversationalist that would sweep any woman off her feet. He is intelligent, cunning, lazy, fond of good living, easy money and adept in handling girls.

 When I fell in love with him, he told me he was an MBA and an executive in a big company. He took me around to places but took care not to take advantage of my mad love for him before marriage. This made me trust him more. I have no mother.

My father an old man, who is no more, took a look at him and talked to him for a few minutes. He later told me “Sunita, he rings fake to me. Something about him warns me that he is not right, though I cannot pinpoint it. Don’t be in a hurry to marry him. Have his statements verified thoroughly before you take this important decision.”

Foolish and headstrong as I was then, I ignored his suggestion and went ahead with the marriage. At the suggestion of my husband, it was a simple marriage with very few friends of his. It was only later after a few months that I found out, that he had no job, had no MBA and was a plain loafer. I also learnt to my utter shock that I was his fifth wife and that he had inveigled earlier many girls like me and married them, given them children and robbed them of their money. He went each night to one of the unfortunate women.”

The kindly inspector asked “Do you have any child? Have you also parted with your jewels and money as I see no gold on your neck or hands?”

She replied “Yes, I have lost all. Luckily, I have no child. He made me abort the one immediately after marriage as he did not have money for the hospital and I was not aware then of his shenanigans. The immediate provocation for my drastic step was his latest attempt to cheat a girl of nineteen or twenty into a marriage. I overheard his conversation when he assumed I was not at home. His looks were his asset and I decided to take it away from him so that no girl would ever fall victim any more to his wily moves. I took this decision consciously and am prepared to suffer punishment for it.”

The inspector kept quiet motioning her to remain silent and thought over the matter for a few minutes. He could see in the agitated young girl a picture of his daughter. He could visualise her mental torture of having been cheated by a riffraff. He had no sympathy for the young man who got his just desserts. What he was worried about was the wrong manner in which the justice was administered to him.

He coughed and told her in a quiet voice” Listen carefully, you are like my daughter. I trust what you have said. But I will make independent enquiries to test the veracity of your statements. If he is a culprit as you have explained, do not worry. You said that you poured the acid on his face when he was asleep. I hope he did not see you. He might have lost his vision by now. You have taken the law into your own hands. This doesn't seem right and punishable. I suggest you give me a statement duly signed that on entering the house from the college, you found your husband writhing in pain and that someone must have assaulted him with acid out of enmity. Utter no word to anyone that you did it and stick to this. I will bring this case to a successful conclusion to the great relief of his earlier five wives and the rescue of his potential sixth victim.”

He stood up, patted her on her shoulders and said “Don’t worry; you have a dad in me. Policemen aren’t as bad as they are often depicted.”

It can, however, be a matter of endless discussion, whether the inspector acted according to the law. What mattered was that he knew that real justice sometimes is denied in the name of law.