Calming The Storm🌌 (#wattys2019)√

28. Virtue

Dedicated to ReaderDisha i loved yoir books! Thank you sooooo much for the support and encouragement!

"When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises."

-Angela Merkel

Sampurnaa's pov:

It was now the defendant's turn to question me. To say that I wasn't nervous would be a total lie. The defendant stood up in an eerily calm way and came up right in front of the witness box that I was standing in.
She looked at me straight in the eye and asked, "Ms. Roy. From the information that I collected, it is evident that you were the only girl or woman associated with the red light area operation. All your female colleagues refused to be a part of all this owing to the risk involved. Why did you take the initiative of investigating Sridha's case and exposing Mr. Sequira?"

I was a bit taken aback at her question. It was so totally unexpected!
Nevertheless, I chose to reply carefully, "Why would I back out simply because I am female? It was my colleagues' choice so they chose to not partake in this expedition. It was my choice! I wanted to do this for Sridha."

Mrs. Prakash, the defendant simply smirked at what I had to say.
She clicked her tongue in a rude way and then said, "Are you really the saint that you are trying to portray yourself as or did you have some hidden motive behind all this? In fact you could be one of those involved in the human trafficking, drug smuggling and forced prostitution racket for all I know... You know several women...".

She was cut in between by a very annoyed prosecutor i.e., Mr. Indrayan Chakraborty, "Objection! Your honour, the defendant is trying to demean the witness' character!"

The judge replied with an 'Objection sustained'

The defendant apologised to him and then resumed the questioning, "Not all women are victims Ms. Roy! How can the court know for sure that you have not been staging all this deliberately with some ulterior motive? There have been several cases in the past where a genuine looking case turned out to be a hoax later! How do we here know that the evidence that you are presenting are legitimate?"

My temper was turning up a notch at each sentence she spoke.
I clenched my fist, pep talked myself to calm down and then releasing a sigh, I finally decided to answer this shrewd specimen of the human species,
"With all due respect Ma'am Defendant! I may not be a qualified advocate like you but I do believe that the judgment passed in a court of justice is based on the decision taken by the judge and not on the basis of someone's trivial thoughts and speculations! I can vouch that the evidence collected and produced is bona-fide. The rest is obviously up to His Honour!"

My answer sent loud gasps throughout the courtroom. I could actually see Zakir's jaw literally touching the floor. Sridha's eyes widened at my answer! I believe she's never really met the journalist who can be shrewd and snappy. Indrayan's face reflected a mixture of pride and sheer horror.

The defendant's face was the most comical. She had actually flushed red.
I bit my lip to refrain myself from doing anything stupid like laughing out loud.
The judge hit his gavel thrice followed by a thunderous 'Order! Order!'

Mrs. Vanita Prakash snapped out of her stunned reverie and proceeded to ask me the next question, "You said that you followed Mr. Sequira into his brothel. Why did you shadow him? Isn't it a violation of someone's personal space? I mean I know reporters like to have juicy storylines in their hands, but isn't this totally unacceptable from a mere studio correspondent? You are trying to accuse Mr. Sequira of crimes that do not befit him! He ran a brothel with his sister where willing sex workers earned a living. There are some statements that my assistant collected from the women there...."
She turned to face the judge and continued,
"Your honour! The advanced notice has already been submitted to you. With your permission I would like to play the recordings. They come with a video footage."