Warlock

by Vickram E Diwan

  “Thank you, Doctor Wilson,” said Anjali. Walking back to her chair she added, “Nothing further Your Honour!”

  “Professor Wilson,” said Public prosecutor Kathuria standing up for cross-examination, “Have you considered the possibility that Ms. Payal is telling the truth?”

  “As a rational person of modern education, I am disinclined to believe in such things and phenomena as ghosts.”

  “If you omit that part of Ms. Payal’s statement regarding spirits; doesn’t everything else she has said could have happened in reality?”

  “Can you please rephrase your question?”

  “A girl is held captive in a secluded estate, she sees a person involved in tantrik or occult rituals and he murders a baby in front of her – how can you call it all as her hallucination?” Kathuria challenged him.

  “I did not mean that she’s a liar or that there can be no basis for her allegations,” replied the Doctor choosing his words carefully. “But you have to consider her statement in its totality; as a Psychologist, I can’t pick and choose few sections of an individual’s statements and form my opinion on its basis. When a person is under severe stress, suffering from anxiety and claims to have seen a ghost and other incidents of a gothic nature, the occurrence of which cannot be proved for lack of evidence, I am justified in saying that she might have hallucinated it.”

  “If you had been given access to the records of the proceeding of this court-room, you would have had an opportunity to consider the conduct of the accused, as brought forth by the chain of events described by the witnesses, is that correct?”

  “Yes; I had read everything with due consideration.”

  “tell me, my good Doctor; is it possible for an educated person to believe in occult and supernatural?”

  Anjali saw that Rudolf Schönherr’s eyes were red and swollen and he frequently closed them for long durations. He appeared to be preoccupied and was oblivious to the proceedings in the courtroom. He also seemed greatly disturbed and scared for some reason. ,

  “I am not an expert on paranormal phenomena,” said Doctor Wilson, “but as a Psychologist, I had an opportunity to examine people suffering from all kind of delusions and mental diseases. On the basis of which I can say that belief in the supernatural, occult or black magic is more prevalent in the lower strata of society and less in educated folk. However, being educated does not mean that person automatically starts to disbelieve in superstitions. I consider education only as a lamp that one carries while walking on a road in the night; it is the choice of an individual, whether to follow the right path in the light or to ignore it and go towards the darkness of ignorance. Education is a means and not an end in itself; it is a path, not a destination.”

  “I request that you answer my question in a more specific manner,” said Kathuria.

  “It is quite possible for even educated people to believe in supernatural. The reasons may be varied; it may be the result of the biological makeup of an individual, his/her upbringing or environment, as it is called, a psychological episode or experiences to which he cannot apply a rational explanation. The belief in supernatural is quite endemic and exists worldwide, be in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, no continent, race or religion is an exception.”

  “Thank you Dr. Wilson; nothing further your honour!” Said Kathuria and walked back to his chair.

  “Does the defense have any more witnesses?” Asked the Judge.

  “No your honour, the defense rests its case.”

  “The proceedings of this case are adjourned unit the next hearing, when the lawyers can present their closing arguments,” ordered the Judge and left for his chamber.

  On the next hearing of the case asked the Judge, “Are the counselors ready with the closing arguments?”

  “Yes your Honour,” both Kathuria and Anjali answered.

  “Proceed, counsel for the prosecution,” Judge ordered.

  Anjali sat down in her chair while Kathuria started his summarization. “Your Hounour,” he said, “before you is the evilest man I have ever come across in my entire life; Rudolf Schönherr epitomizes evil in these times; a cunning and smooth operator he is, the man who has made it his life’s mission to serve the cause of Evil. That was just the essentials, the basic truth,” Kathuria said after stopping for a breath, “Now let me get down to the case before the court. Before I start, however, I would like to submit that this man is an unbelievably clever criminal minded person. He has always successfully covered his tracks, wiped off the footprints of his criminal and evil deeds with well thought of and unimaginable cunningness. This man has two identities, your honour, first, of a reputed choreographer and artist that he presents to the world. But this is only a façade, a mask to hide his real and evil face, which is his second identity of a vicious Warlock!”

  “I know your honour that it is not easy to believe in these things, which some people prefer to call as middle-age nonsense,” Kathuria said with a fleeting glance at Anjali. “But I am not arguing about the truth of black magic before your honour, the point which I am trying to make is that this man,” Kathuria pointed his finger at Rudolf Schönherr, “he believes in it all, and is a tantrik!”

  “I understand your honour that the accused cannot be prosecuted or punished for believing in or practicing black magic and hence I present before the honourable court with his criminal offenses. You have heard your honour, the testimony of Payal Chatterjee, as to how Rudolf Schönherr tricked her into going to her farmhouse. It is itself so utterly shameful for this country your honour, the way the morally corrupt men like this Rudolf Schönherr in a position of power try to compromise the dignity of innocent career women!”

  “But even if the honourable court was to disregard this naked and shameful conduct, it cannot possibly ignore the criminal offenses of this dangerous character. The accused lured a young woman on the false pretext to meet the producer for a role and held her in his farmhouse against her will; he murdered an innocent baby before her. Not satisfied with it, he ultimately tried to murder the helpless young woman Payal herself.”

  “You have heard the testimony of A.S.I. Rajveer Yadav of the Mehrauli Police station, your honour. A responsible officer of the law-enforcing agency who has given his sworn testimony that the accused was on the verge of murdering Payal when he was caught with a sword. If the cops had not arrested him in the nick of time, I have no doubt that he would have murdered Payal. It was not a simple act of rehearsal of a stage show at that hour of the December night, as he has tried to mislead the court.”

  “You have heard your honour the testimony of Neeta Choudhari that the accused flirted with the girl students of his institute and tried to exploit them physically.”

  “Last but not the least is the Payal’s testimony itself; if there was any doubt in the reality of Rudolf Schönherr and his evil deeds, I am confident that Payal’s testimony before the honourable court has removed it once for all. Payal is the key witness in this case your honour, her truthful account of the incidents reveal the sinister face of this evil man,” Kathuria said pointing towards Rudolf Schönherr who was sitting with a straight face devoid of any reaction or emotion.

  “In the light of all these testimonies and the weight of the evidence, I demand that the court finds the accused guilty of his crimes and awards exemplary punishment to him that it will serve as a lesson to others and deter them from committing similar heinous crimes,” Kathuria said his last statement in one single breath and bowing to the Judge took back his seat.

  The glance of the Judge fell on Rudolf Schönherr’s lawyer Anjali Kohli, who stood up from her chair and walked in front of her table. “Your honour,” she said, “my learned friend had talked in his summarization on about the weight of evidence, I am afraid that I for one can see no evidence, let alone feel any weight of it.”

  “The only one thing on which I agree with my learned friend in the prosecution is that Payal Chatterjee is the key person in this entire case. Ind
eed she is, for if it were not so there simply would have been no case, no trial; she is the main cause; the only reason that there is a case before this court. It is very simple to understand the roots of this case your honour; we will only have to understand this one woman, Payal. There are lots of young women; many of them want to succeed in life, some in the field of acting and some in other professions. So what’s different about Payal? It is her blind ambition to succeed which makes her different; it is her ruthless determination to get what she wants, which make her different.”

  “To fulfill her dreams, she adopted shameful means to succeed and that is what makes her different! During the course of the cross-examination, the prosecution’s witness Neeta Choudhari had admitted that Payal was a very ambitious person. Payal herself had accepted this fact later on, during her cross-examination. That is the root cause of this whole trial your honour, the over ambitiousness of Payal.”

  “Payal herself has admitted that it was she who approached Rudolf Schönherr, it was she who initiated the professional relationship. It was she who wanted to benefit from Rudolf Schönherr, from his connection in the field of television and movie industry. And what does this over-ambitious woman does when she fails to get a break for her lack of talent?”

  Anjali sipped a little of the water from the glass at her table and continued, “She shamelessly tried to use her body to influence Rudolf Schönherr’s professional judgment and unbiased decision about her. It was Rudolf Schönherr’s refusal to change his decision and his rejection of Payal’s shameful offer of her body that infuriated her beyond description. While the former was an assault on her blind ambitions, the later was a direct insult to her womanhood – in her weird perception that is.”

  “But the matter did not end there; instead of blaming her failure in succeeding to the real reasons as per her lack of talent, she squarely blamed Rudolf Schönherr personally for it. As the days passed this fury of hers got out of her control; it was that she decided to trap Rudolf Schönherr in a scandal and ruin him personally and professionally.”

  “She disappeared from her friend’s flat without any message and appeared outside the door of Rudolf Schönherr’s house, a few days later. And when police arrived on the scene, she acted as a victim; after she had time to prepare a fancy story, she made her statement to the police which resulted in this trial.”

  “Let me now take the attention of the court to the facts that highlight the innocence of my client, which the prosecution has willfully chosen to omit. It had been claimed throughout the trial that my client sacrificed a baby at the altar. But till date, the Police have not been able to recover the body of the alleged victim; which is the elementary requirement for even registration of a case of homicide. The report of the samples picked up by the Police and sent for analysis have clearly stated that it had no traces of human blood in them. The undisputed scientific evidence proves that my client is a victim of circumstances and manipulation of a cunning and revengeful woman aided by the Police and he is not a tantrik or Warlock, which the prosecution never got tired of portraying him as, despite all evidence to the contrary.”

  “Your honour has himself seen how the prosecution’s own witness turned hostile in the court and did not identify my client as the abductor of her baby-brother, as per the accusation levied against him. It had thus been proven beyond doubt that my client Rudolf Schönherr did not abduct or sacrificed a child at the altar,” she argued vociferously.

  “Coming back to the allegations of Ms. Payal; the prosecution has not been able to present any witness or evidence that can prove that my client had tricked the complainant into accompanying him to his farmhouse. Either Payal or an accomplice of her could have bought the sim card of the mobile phone that was used to make calls at her flat. In addition, there is no witness or evidence that my client ever held her captive in his estate for any duration of time or had tried to kill her. The prosecution has only presented before this court unsubstantiated accusations that do not prove my client guilty of any crime what so ever.”

  “On the other hand your honour, the defense had proved in the court that Ms. Payal was an ambitious girl who had approached my client after she had been rejected at other acting institutes because of lack of talent. As for her presence at Rudolf Schönherr’s estate, please appreciate the fact that the property covers a huge area and he cannot keep a vigil on it at all times. The fence that forms its perimeter is not electrocuted and anyone can enter it without being noticed by my client, who has not hired watch-man, gardeners or other staff to maintain the place and keep a vigil on it. In addition, he also has not installed a burglar alarm, closed-circuit television or other such ultra-modern devices at his property.”

  “Ms. Payal could have entered it and roamed about in the farmhouse of my client undetected, for as long as she wished. And since he foolishly keeps the keys of the building in his farmhouse in a shed behind, gaining access to it also posed no particular problem for the complainant. His car also remains parked unlocked outside for long durations, which explains how Ms. Payal’s hair strand and fingerprints were found in the car, rooms, toilet and glass pyramid on the terrace.”

  “As for the torn dress and sandal that the prosecution had presented to the court, your honour, the prosecution has not been able to establish conclusively that they belonged to Ms. Payal and even if they did, the complainant, in this case, had ample opportunity to plant the same in my client’s farmhouse, as also her hair and fingerprints.”

  “In addition your honour, you have heard the testimony of a renowned Doctor of Psychology, which proves that Ms. Payal is a mentally unstable person. The hysterical and unsubstantiated allegations of such a person cannot form the basis of finding Mr. Rudolf Schönherr guilty. It is not merely my earnest request but imploration on account of Justice, Truth and Liberty that my client Rudolf Schönherr be acquitted on all the false charges and accusations that have been framed against him. Thank you, your honour.”

  Anjali walked to her chair and sat down on it in such a manner as if she had just finished a marathon. Rudolf Schönherr turned back his head and made the ‘sign of the horn’ hand gesture to his friend Rohit, nodding his head in approval, pleased with the performance of his attorney. The Judge spoke in his serious voice, “The court will announce its verdict at 4:00 p.m. today. Until then this court is adjourned.”

  As the prescribed hour the honourable Additional sessions judge Makhija sat down in his chair to announce his verdict. Rudolf Schönherr was standing with his lawyer Anjali while facing the Judge and the blind goddess of Justice, as he read his judgment. “After carefully examining all the evidence and testimonies and giving due consideration to the arguments put forth by the lawyers from both sides, this court has reached the conclusion that the prosecution has not been able to prove the guilt of the accused conclusively. As such the court acquits Rudolf Schönherr on all charges, for lack of evidence. This case is hereby dismissed!”

  Just as the Judge left his chair, Rudolf Schönherr took his friend Rohit in his arms in jubilation, “We did it Rohit, we have won!”

  Both the junior lawyers extended their hands to congratulate their boss; public prosecutor Kathuria also came by to congratulate his rival. But before he left he commented, “The reason you won Ms. Kohli is that your client manipulated the system with his money and high connections and because you are a better storyteller than I am. We both know that he is as guilty as sin and you will never savour this victory, my dear girl, as your own conscience will trouble you for helping a vicious criminal go scot-free.”

  Anjali mused on the truth of those words as she went outside; where they were dazzled by the strong contingent of media, which was waiting for them in the corridor of the courthouse. Every conceivable news-channel and newspaper was represented there.Both Rudolf Schönherr and Anjali were obliged to provide sound bites.

  The victory was celebrated with a wild party at the ‘Le Meridian’ Hotel. The champagne was overflowing while Rudolf Schönher
r’s friends and associates and admirers danced liked crazy in the party. Among them ‘A’ grade Bollywood film stars, movie producers, financers and directors who had specially flown in from Mumbai and some even from shooting schedules abroad and their counterparts from television. In addition there were several media-savvy politicians and bureaucrats, including the former chief minister of a Northern state, a minister of state in the union cabinet, young members of Parliament, spokesperson of the party in power, top-notch lawyers, liquor barons, advertising gurus, fashion designers, models, authors and Page 3 glittery, which showed the popularity, influence, and patronage Rudolf Schönherr and Rohit enjoyed.

  Many foreigners from various embassies in the city and from the multinational corporations, which were clients of Rohit’s consultancy firm, were all busy in merrymaking. Rudolf Schönherr set the ball rolling by opening a huge bottle of Champagne and releasing it like a bursting fountain, followed by the cutting of a three-storied cake with Rohit and a Bollywood reigning Diva by his side. It was again he, who took the lead in dancing, sweeping the women off her feet. One of his favourite songs, Zaraa Dil Ko Thaam Lo’ from the Bollywood movie Don 2 was played to celebrate his victory.

  Anjali’s junior lawyer was in the meanwhile busy making Leena having drinks, who was the ‘queen of soap operas’ and who had been voted as the ‘sexiest woman alive’ in magazines and many radio shows. By the time it struck 11, more than half the people had left to attend another party, while the other half were completely drunk and unable to stand on their own feet.

  Rohit pushed closer to Rudolf Schönherr and said in a low voice. “That Mehrauli S.H.O., Inspector Joginder Singh had called me a little while back. He was asking if he could do anything else for us?”