“I don’t want to live with this man, I don’t trust him anymore. He tried to kill me…..” Myera shouted in the court room with tears in her eyes.
Standing beside her was her husband Rahul, who was stunned to hear what his estranged wife had just said. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. They were never a madly-in-love couple during two year of togetherness, but he thought that they had enough warmth in their relationship which would not let them do anything to harm each other physically. He knew that what his wife just said is enough to put him behind the bar for good four-five month pending all other activities related to this case.
Court of The District Judge was full of lawyers that day. An important and high profile case was to be heard today. Myera, who was married to Rahul for eight years, had filed a case against him under Section 498 A for dowry harassment and had accused him of many wrongful intent and act against her. Apprehending arrest, Rahul had applied for anticipatory bail in the court of District Judge. The moment Hon’ble Judge entered the court room, everyone stood up in customary respect. Myera and Rahul were called in the court room by their respective lawyers and they were asked to stand in same stockade. Time had brought such a change that they came together after six years, but to stand in the court against each other.
“So, what is the problem between you two? Why you are standing here?” Hon’ble Judge asked.
“Rahul, you speak first….” Judge ordered.
“Sir, I have seen the charges leveled against me by my wife, which are not at all true. Nothing of this sort has ever happened.”, Rahul answered.
“No Sir…..he is lying…….” Myera screamed.
“Hold on lady, I will come to you also. Yes Rahul, tell me your side of story in detail……………” Judge again ordered.
“Sir, the year we got married were tough for professionals working in the corporate sector. It was the year of worldwide economic recession and employees were being asked to leave the job left, right and center. A very high salary, which was matter of professional and social pride a year back, had become a bane this year. Performance had stopped being matter to retain the job. I was one high paid employee and to retain my job, I was forced to work four times more than what I was doing around six month back. More I was trying to retain my job, more I was spending time outside my home. This caused a communication gap between us. I somehow survived that period and managed to join another big corporate house after two years, but that decision turned out to be the wrong one and project got shut down in just four months of my joining. Professional decisions I took after that could not result into consistent income source for me. I kept informing her about developments in my life. As nothing worthwhile was happening in my professional life and I myself was under tremendous pressure of unsuccessful personal and professional life, I stopped repeating the same lines again and again. But at no point of time, I was disrespectful to her. Question of hurting her or having the intent to hurt her does not arise at all.” Rahul finished his side of story.
“Yes lady, now it is your turn……” Judge ordered.
“Sir, I got married to him eight years back and just seven days after marriage, his family started torturing me for dowry. They sent me back to my paternal home to bring huge dowry, which my father was unable to bring forth……”
As Myera was continuing her side of story, Judge asked…”When were you sent to your parental house Myera?”
“Sir, after seven days….”She replied.
“And when did your father drop you back to your in-law’s place?”….Judge asked.
“Ummm….Sir, after One…two…three month”…..Myera replied.
“O.K….Continue…” Judge smiled and said while looking down at her complains, in which she had mentioned that she came back to her marital home after three months.
“He and his family kept torturing me for money and finally dropped me off to Kolkata after two years and two months of our marriage and I went home with my brother. I again went to my martial home after couple of months, but I was abused and thrown out by my mother-in-law and other family members.” She said with tears in her eyes.
“But as you heard, your husband just said that nothing has actually happened and he is still ready to take you back….” Judge said.
“I don’t want to live with this man, I don’t trust him anymore. He tried to kill me; he will kill me if I go with him…..” Myera shouted in the court room with tears in her eyes.
Rahul was stunned hearing the lies of Myera. He always believed that though they never loved each other madly, but there was warmth in their relationship, which could have fructified in love. Now, after six years of physical separation, he was standing in court, accused of doing something, which he couldn’t have even thought of doing in his dream. He could have penetrated deep into the allegations leveled against him and shredded it into pieces with the proofs and arguments, but his lawyer had suggested him not to do any such thing, otherwise it will lead the court to believe that there were some issues in the marriage and girl would get the benefit because boy is presumed guilty in such cases even without doing anything or despite being a victim. His lawyers had told him to do everything he could do to convince his wife and the Judge that he really wants to be with her with all the love and dignity. From the beginning, Rahul knew that both of them will be pretending something in the court which they won’t mean to do in real life, but he had faith that Myera won’t do anything to physically harm him. She had always claimed that she loved him a lot, though her actions suggested otherwise. He had seen the copy of allegations Myera had leveled against him and had thought it as something regular in the cases like this, but the stand she took in the court, her posture and her aggression had left him stunned and bewildered. He was amazed to see how she was lying with straight face and doing the drama with panache. He was not sure whether she was aware of the fact that her drama and lie were doing double harm to him; forcing him behind the bar and forcing him to believe that the lust of money can poison the mind of a person so badly.
He knew this fact very well that both of them had their priorities set in different directions; while he wanted to be a successful entrepreneur, Myera wanted to be someone else’s arms. Myera was in love with someone else before marriage, but she probably married him under parental pressure. In the first few months of living together, he had stumbled upon her emails and SMSs, which were telling her story very clearly. Despite all these facts coming bare in front of him, he gave marriage a second chance, thinking that having an affair these days during college in nothing new. He also had had the flirtatious friendships in the past, though none of them were serious relationship. In the second chance also, they couldn’t strike a fruitful relationship because Rahul was still stuck in his professional life and Myera was still stuck in personal life outside her marital life. Now, he was expecting that their life will progress in their respective direction peacefully, but money and deceit came in between and he, along with entire family was made to face something which is not only draconian but completely inhuman. In the court, he was feeling like not standing in the stockade but standing on macabre of human emotions, truthfulness and behavioral propriety built by the lust of money and deceit. His was the relationship which could have seen love, but didn’t see it, because probably there was no love at all. Myera had brought a new concept in his life; not all marriages are made in heaven, some are made in hell as well.
They were asked to go after that, but their lawyers continued their argument. Since Myera hadn’t agreed to go with Rahul, keeping the tradition alive of the Court of District Judge, his bail petition was rejected and he was made to live like an absconder for sometime before he could seek the bail from higher court.
After nearly two months, they met again outside the family court. Rahul smiled at her and said,” Now you can’t say you loved me……..you drew the sword first… ”. Myera had no answer; she knew that what she did was wrong, but for her, everything was fair in love and war. She was in love with someone else and at war with Rahul……
