The First Judgment Day
This was the day most people had been waiting for. The whole nation wants this to be done because they have been talking about this all their previous weeks. They have seen it in the news, heard it in the radio and read it in papers. And they were eager for this day to finally come.
The setting of the court was not that great. It was a District & Sessions court in Delhi where this case had its first date. There were 53 cases that day and this was the first one. No one had known that this one would take all the time of that day’s proceedings.
“My client, your honor, is a hardworking man who has earned all of his wealth by himself. He wanted nothing more in his life when this good-looking Vivaan who is a killer in reality took the most important part of Mr. Singhania away” said Mr. d Souza as the starting statement of his case. “From the court I only demand justice and nothing else, your honor” he sits down.
Albert d Souza, was one of the most successful lawyers in India and also one of the most corrupt ones. He had lost just nine of the 65 cases he has done. His career, spanning a massive 30 years, he has taken the highest amount of wins among all the other lawyers here. He plays with the case and also has an evil sense of one-liners and flaunts his French accent which he has got to learn very recently. So the flaunting is necessary.
“Your honor, my client, Mr. Varun Ahuja is one of the most successful businessmen of this country. He is a self-made and self-established man of great reputation and respect in the society. He has had no cases against him in his entire career of 25 years. How can you expect a man like him to raise his son to be a killer?” says A.K. Sharma, the defense of Varun Ahuja.
Arun Kumar Sharma also was a greatly famous and young lawyer with a more realistic approach towards everything. He doesn’t play much with his words but works on evidences and facts to prove his point. He has been compared to Albert d Souza for winning 20 out of 24 cases in his career. His fees is also as high as Mr. d Souza and he is also corrupt like him. But there’s some difference.
“Shine some light, your honor because my worthy colleague, Mr. Sharma, doesn’t fondly remember how Vivaan Ahuja’s character has been in the past two years. And as they say, once a liar, always a liar” is the reply from Albert d Souza.
“But that should not mean anything and we should not declare him guilty without any discussion about this event. Your honor, I agree that Vivaan has not had a good past due to his involvement in cases of smuggling of drugs. I also agree that it was this only court where he was found guilty and punishment was also given here. But this is my point. This court has found him guilty in the past but in this case, Mr. Albert d Souza wants a direct punishment which I feel is not right for the prestige of this place of justice” says A.K. Sharma.
“I never said that, your honor. Even I feel that it would not be right to declare him guilty straightaway but I am just saying that a boy like Vivaan, who has been involved in such cases in the near past, can easily commit a murder. So I only want justice, my lord, and nothing else”, said Mr. d Souza.
Many such exchanges took place that day in the courtroom and both the defense lawyers were in their best form when they were accusing each other’s clients. This case was important not only because of Mr. Ahuja and Mr. Singhania being a part of this, but also because of Mr. d Souza and Mr. Sharma.
As we know that on the very first date, no evidences or facts are presented but the case is either accepted or rejected by the court. The whole day passed with accusation going on and then the judge said the acceptance statement.
“Listening to the point of views of both the defenses, the court is willing to accept this case with all the further proceedings going on from here. No one related to this case is allowed to leave the town till the completion of the case. Adjourned” saying this, the judge gave the next date.
The next date was two months later as you might have made up in your mind because of the 53 cases on that single day. Now imagine how many cases are there every day for the judiciary. This is the condition of the Judiciary now. There are so many cases pending, some are of small duration and some are of large no. of accusations with them. Some involve the poorest, who can’t even afford a good lawyer and some are those which have Albert d Souza. But still, somewhere in the minds of the common people there is still some faith for the judiciary because maybe that’s the reason for so many cases still pending.