The way I used to live
Chapter 45

Arjun's POV:

Finally, the day of the court hearing arrived. Daksha couldn't rest peacefully because of the hearing. She had been pretty nervous about the outcome because she already experienced failure once and lost a precious person in her life.

I couldn't do anything except for assuring her that nothing would go wrong.

I was in the court along with Indra to discuss the last-minute details. Daksha, along with mom, Grandpa, and her whole family entered the court as the time for the hearing was getting nearer.

I just nodded at them and greeted them briefly before involving myself in a talk with Indra and saw that Aditya was guiding them inside the waiting room.

Rahul too came and went inside along with his lawyer after glaring at me and I smirked at him slightly.

Well, anyone in his place would get angry because he lost his family's support to use their influence to get out of this pit and even his company was also in huge shackles. It was like he was playing the game even when he knew he was going to lose.

Indra and I went inside too. Soon, the entry of the judge was announced and after all the initial formalities, the official trial began.

"Prosecutor, you may make the opening statements," I immediately bowed my head at him in greetings.

"Your honor, the defendant, Mr.Rahul, is accused of killing my client's acquaintance Swathi and her own sister-in-law, Tejaswi. In addition to those accusations, I have some proof to support the claims of him being involved in child and women trafficking. So, let me start with Ms. Swathi's case first," I explained and saw that the judge nodded at me before asking the defendant lawyer to make his opening statements After he was done, I started telling my claims.

"Ms. Swathi used to work as a maid in Mr.Rahul's house. One fine day, when there was no one at home, Mr. Rahul forced himself on her and raped her brutally. He even threatened her to not say anything about this matter to anyone but Ms. Swathi informed her parents with the hope that they might support her. Instead of supporting her, they shunned her into silence. Later, Ms. Swathi found herself pregnant and when he came to know about it, he forcefully took her to the hospital to abort the baby where my client Daksha was working as a doctor. At the hospital, Mr. Rahul was involved in an argument with my client and her friend. It's better if we hear everything from my client itself," I briefly suggested. When the judge gave his approval, Daksha was escorted to the podium. She came and stood there nervously. When I smiled at her discreetly in an assuring manner, she nodded at me before starting to narrate the happenings.

"Everything that the prosecutor has said is correct. That day, I went to my friend's department to meet her but I got to witness him arguing with my friend. From their words, I got to know that he was forcing Swathi to abort the baby against her will. When he was about to slap my friend, I stopped him and slapped him. He left from there angrily after warning us. After he left, Swathi told us everything about his deeds. When I encouraged her to file a complaint against him, she did it in the hopes of getting justice. When we thought that he was going to get punished, unexpectedly the case got closed and we were accused of defaming his character. After a few days, I found out the death news of Swathi. She hung herself in her house but I truly believe that she is not a weak person to kill herself. So, it has to be a murder," dhe said everything in one go.

"Objection, your honor," the defense lawyer shouted.

"Objection sustained."

"Thanks, your honor. How can you be sure that my client had forced himself on Ms. Swathi? The deed must be done with her consent too. She must be a willing party too. Let me tell you this, Ms. Swathi was the one who pestered my client to have a relationship with her. Later when she got pregnant, she used her baby to blackmail my client to marry her, or otherwise she would go to the media and would tell the whole world that he raped her. So, he forced her to abort the baby to save his reputation. Seeing that he was not agreeing to the marriage, she decided to file a case against him in order to at least loot some amount from him but all her plans failed when my client's innocence was proven. After the case was over, her family completely outcast her for making them face humiliation. So, she killed herself as she didn't have any option. So, your honor, all the baseless accusations they made on my client are false. He is innocent," he said in a humble tone and I resisted the urge to scoff at his face.

"So, do you have any proof to show that your client is innocent?" I asked the defense lawyer and he just smirked at me.

"Well, I don't have any proof and so do you. Sir, the court needs valid proof and not some baseless accusations. If you don't have one, then don't accuse my client erroneously," he said cockily.

"Who said that I don't have any proof?" I shot back at him with a smirk and upon hearing my words, his previous arrogance faded away from his face. He immediately exchanged a look with Rahul who was already looking at me with a confused face.

"Your honor, I do have some proof to show that Ms. Swathi was murdered and the murderer was Mr. Rahul." Saying this, I handed over the evidence to the court.

The evidence was nothing but Swathi's handwritten diary, autopsy report, and Rahul's cufflink of his suit.

Seeing the diary, their faces morphed into a frown, unable to fathom how they missed this silly point.

"Your honor, I doubt the authenticity of the proof. Ms. Swathi was a maid who didn't even get primary education. So, I seriously doubt that she knew how to write and as for the cufflink, it is a counterfeit they prepared to accuse my client," he came to the defense of Rahul.

"Your honor, I think the defense lawyer doesn't know the meaning of a literate person. A person can be literate without even having proper education and moreover, the language she used here is not any foreign language but her mother tongue. You can check the genuineness. She mentioned everything in her diary. From how he forced himself on her and how she spent her nights with the nightmares. She seriously fell into depression. You can see the medical reports of Ms. Swathi.

"She suffered from clinical depression but she recovered from it pretty soon and if you see the reason as to why she suffered from it, you will know who was the reason behind her miseries. Even before dying, she wrote how she was receiving threat messages from Mr. Rahul but she mentioned clearly that she wouldn't be a coward from now on and would fight everything for her baby. So considering her mental health, is there any possibility for her to kill herself? I agree she suffered from depression and having suicidal tendencies is pretty common in such patients but she recovered from it soon itself and proved that she was a fighter." When the defense lawyer was about to refute my words, I interrupted him.

"Let me complete what I want to say. As for the cufflink, I can say that it surely belongs to Mr. Rahul. It is a customized one from a famous company in Italy. They prepare things as per the requirements of their customers and are known for their morality. They never accept bribes to do illegal things. The thing is, they did make another cufflink but only upon the request of Mr. Rahul. When he realized that he lost his cufflink, he placed an order for them to make the same cufflink that matches the other one. If you look at the counterfeit bill of that order, surprisingly it is the same date where Ms. Swathi was found dead and her family found this cufflink beside her dead body. As for the autopsy, the reports clearly said Ms. Swathi struggled to save her life and there were nail marks, fingerprints on her face and body. I suspect that he again raped her," I told in a high pitched tone.

"No. You are wrong. I didn't rape her. I just killed-" Rahul exclaimed but stopped immediately after realizing what he was saying but anyone could guess that he blurted out the truth in anxiety. The last accusation that I made was false but I did it to rile him up in hopes that he would tell the truth and he did, but not completely.

"Objection, your honor. the prosecutor is misleading the case and he is using my client's emotional imbalance as a tool and forcing him to agree with his claims."

"Objection overruled." The judge refused angrily and I just passed a sly smile at him to which he glared at me angrily.

"Court is verifying the authenticity of the claims and we hope that the doctor who treated Ms. Swathi will cooperate with the investigation. Meanwhile, Mr. Prosecutor, you can carry on with your other claims," he said and I just nodded at him before submitting every proof against him.

"There is nothing to argue, Sir. The proofs that I have submitted will tell you everything. Mr. Rahul attacked my client Daksha as a revenge to get even with her. He harassed her sexually and intentionally pushed her sister-in-law from the stairs who tried to save Ms. Daksha which led to the miscarriage and the death of Ms. Tejaswi. He was even involved in the trafficking of children and women. There is a testimony of his second in command. He is currently

under the custody of ACP Indratan," I said while balling my fists tightly.

Hearing my words, the judge glanced at Daksha who had a forlorn expression on her face and asked her.

"Is it true, Ms. Daksha?" he asked her and she just nodded at him before bending her down.

I could clearly see the tears that were flowing from her eyes like broken pearls, creating a throb in my heart. I just wanted to pull her in my arms and wanted to protect her from everything. Her broken voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"He pushed her in front of me and I just stood there helplessly, not knowing what to do. She rolled down from the stairs right in front of my eyes. How I wished to be in her place! She was pregnant and even before she could tell her family, she lost her baby and even her life too. What did she do to receive such a fate when she was completely innocent? What was the mistake of Swathi to get killed at his hands? She fought for herself and for her baby, yet she lost in that battle when the culprit is still roaming so freely without any care in this world," she shouted while sobbing.

"I once believed that the law would punish the criminal but it failed us. It failed the victim. I was so disappointed that I lost my belief in law, justice, and everything. Everyone says that justice is fair but no. It is not. Don't fool the citizens t was never fair and will never be really don't know what will be your decision against him but I beg you to be fair. Consider every evidence seriously. I beg you. I want justice for Swathi, for Teju, for an innocent unborn baby, and for all the victims of his brutality. I beg you. Please don't make us lose faith in the law again and please don't prove us right again. It is so painful to go through the same deceit again and again." She said while folding her hands in front of the judge.

I shifted my gaze away from her as I wasn't able to see her vulnerability.

"I don't know what happened in the past. I can understand your emotional turmoil but before coming to any decision, I have to give a fair chance to both parties and have to verify every evidence clearly but I

can assure you, Ms. Daksha, I won't play sides and the jury will consider everything fairly," he assured her and she just nodded her head.

"Court is dismissed for half an hour." Saying this, he stood up to leave the courtroom with the bailiff carrying the evidences behind him

Immediately after the break was announced, Daksha rushed to me and hugged me so tightly while whimpering in my embrace. I held her tightly in my arms and consoled her.

"Will he get the punishment that he deserves? I am afraid that he will fool every one of us again. I shouldn't have cried in front of everyone, right.? I am a fool who doesn't have control over her own emotions," she said in between her sobbing session and I just let out a chuckle before holding her face with my arms while dabbing her tears away.

"Silly girl. You did a good job. If his punishment would have been in my hands, he would have been 6 feet under the earth by now but we can't take the law into our hands and I am sure he will get a serious punishment for all his crimes," I assured her.

"By the way, even if you are a crying mess, you are always beautiful and cute in my eyes," I said before hugging her again. and she immediately buried her face in my embrace, shyly. We both were in our own world until we heard someone clear their throat.

I lifted my face to see that Ma and Attayya were giving us teasing looks.

"It is a court. Have some control," Ma said with a smile on her face. Daksha immediately left my embrace after hearing her words, making me glare at my mother after sensing the emptiness in my arms.

"Now, don't sulk here. Remember, your suave and mighty lawyer image," she reminded me and I just rolled my eyes at her.

"You guys did a good job." Everyone praised us.

"Well, we can't say that till the judgment is announced," Daksha said skeptically.

"Don't worry. Nothing will go wrong. The judgment will be in our favor only." Grandpa assured her and she smiled at him brightly.

Soon the break was over and it was time for the judgment.

"Does the defense lawyer have anything to say?" Judge asked him and he just shook his head. I glanced at Rahul and saw that he had a defeated look on his face.

"Well, after considering every evidence with the utmost fairness, the court replaces Mr. Rahul guilty and will be subjected to the death penalty for all his heinous crimes under Sec. 302 of the penal law," he declared the judgment with the fall of the hammer.

"The court is adjourned," he said. I smiled in victory and before I knew it, I was crushed into a hug by everyone.

Adi gave me a full-blown smile with the tears in his eyes and left from there immediately. I smiled a little looking at his lonely back. I truly wished for him to replace his happiness soon.

My thoughts were broken down by the excited silly fellow in front of me.

"Arjun, we did it. You did it. I am so happy. Finally, he got the punishment. God! I still can't believe that this is really happening." I just wanted to kiss her then and there because she was looking so cute with

that excited glint in her eyes. I glanced at everyone and saw that all of my family members had smiles on their faces.

I just took the over-excited Daksha into my arms and hugged her so tightly with a smile as I finally fulfilled her wish. From now on, we both can leave happily by leaving our pasts behind us.

I lifted my head to look at Rahul who was escorted outside by Indra's team and thought in my mind.

"If those who break the law are allowed to escape punishment, would the world have any justice in it? Surely a big No."