Part - 6 (Trial of the Rapist)
After lunch, I headed towards Hemendra Babu's house. He was sitting by the window, his head in his hands, thinking.
I called on the door,
He looked back and said,
-"Come on, Thakur."
He gave me a chair.
I sat down facing him. The sky was cloudy outside. It looked like it would rain in the afternoon, if not now. Some birds were chirping by the window. A faint light came through the window grilles in the darkness of the sun covered by clouds.
On the floor. We both sit in silence for a long time. He is thinking about something with his hand on his head... The hookah in front of him.
After a while, I broke the silence.
-"I am really surprised to see all this! Well, Hemendra Babu.. you are an old man of the village. You certainly know a lot of things... What do you think is the reason for this? And I hear from many people that-
He stopped me and said in a calm voice.
-"About five years ago today, an incident happened in the village. Everyone thinks that he has returned."
-"Who is he?"
-"A witch. A widow had a daughter. Her name was Harini... She died soon after birth. I read that she herself was responsible for her mother's death. She is a witch.. and has preyed on countless people."
Yes, everyone loved him because he didn't have a mother. An old woman in the village kept him with her.
He had Harini for fifteen years. She was becoming very beautiful. With two brown eyes... she would tempt anyone. Who wouldn't want to marry her?
Everyone from farmers to rich people would fall at her feet... but she wouldn't agree to marry anyone.
Then I heard that she would burn everyone with the fire of beauty and take them to the forest late at night. The first day we met in front of the forest.. If you walk along that narrow path, there is a deep black place behind the banyan tree...
She would take them there. She would feed on the blood of the boys, showing greed to satisfy her physical needs. No one noticed this... It was just that how many boys had decreased from the village like this. She hadn't even started feeding on blood properly yet..
That old woman died... After that, everything became even more terrifying. What used to be one male less every six months started decreasing by one male each month...
Well, one day the boys of the village caught her. My son was also in that group... Those who were dying Everyone was in that group...
Then the whole village tied her to a tree behind that banyan tree that night. Then they set her on fire. Her beautiful body like gold was burning and boiling... Her screams spread all around... But no one came forward that day... Who would go to save a witch?
The village was scared. No one ever thought he would come back. Then, a couple of months ago, these things started again. Out of the fifteen boys in that group who caught him that day, eleven of them, including the two from yesterday, have died...
Maybe he's more angry with them. And the other four are almost crazy. I don't know when and how he'll hunt them down... I've heard that many nights he comes in the form of a woman he knows and lures them out. Then he hunts them down...
Only one from yesterday died in the evening... The rest are the same. Not everyone's house has a system like mine to keep their son locked up...
So it's not clear when he's going to finish off who!"
There are two sides to a story, and I know one side of it... why does it feel like I have to put in a lot of effort to know the second side?
I agreed and entered Charan's room. I took Hari with me. Charan was fast asleep. Charan was lying on the dusty floor, amidst things scattered here and there...
He was surprised as soon as we entered.
-"This witch... this is you... you..."
"We are the feet.
We've come to help you. So that that witch can't do anything to you anymore...
He opened his eyes.
He sat up, his handcuffs making a clanking sound.
He sat up straight and said,
- "Who? Who?"
Then he took a good look at me... and screamed.
-"Get out of here, everyone. No one can handle him... no one..."
I forced myself to his side. I held his hand tightly.
-"I can do it. Look, I'm here to save you..."
He calmed down a lot. Then he said in a very calm voice,
-"Water! Water!"
As soon as Hari handed him the glass of water, he gulped it down.
-"Now you tell me everything. You burned him, tell me what happened that day. Look, even if you hide something, I won't be able to save you... Tell me feet."
He remained silent for a long time.
In the quiet of the evening, a dove was calling in a silent voice... After the rain at night, a smell of wet earth was spreading all around. After a while, Charan opened his mouth,
-"Yes... yes... we tested it with a friend of ours. He kept coming to her house for two days. That deer told him to come to that forest the next night.
For their physical intercourse... that boy went. Just when he was about to drink her blood, we went and caught him.
"I grabbed her by the long hair and pulled her away. Then I burned her alive in front of the entire village. Before she died, a witch shouted that she would return in an even more terrifying form."
(What do you think? There are only two more episodes left in the story. Tell me what you think. Who is right and which is wrong?)
To be continued....
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