The Relics by Rajesh Jisha

Author:Rajesh, Jisha [Rajesh, Jisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER – 11. THE DUNGEON

The police van halted in front of a huge iron gate with a sudden jerk which woke me up from my slumber. All of us got down and were ushered inside through a small side gate. The culprits were ranked according to the grade of the atrocity of the crime that they had committed. As I had one of the grave ones to my credit, all the inmates looked at me with reverence mixed with terror. All heads turned towards me as I walked towards the jailor’s office. People abandoned their work for a while to have a look at the debutant in the world of crime.

I heard someone whisper as I passed by, “he is a first-timer.”

“What did he do?” Another voice asked.

“Haven’t you heard of the sensational Rastogi murder case? He is the man behind the show. The older Rastogi wanted him to be hanged but the court showed some mercy and sentenced him only to life – term.”

“But he looks so innocent to commit a murder.”

“Don’t go by looks, they deceive.”

“He is a doctor, isn’t it?”

“Was… he has been debarred.”

The jailor ordered me to surrender everything that I had on me and change into the prison uniform. I had to share the cell with another inmate Madan who was arrested for a bank robbery and had 5 more years to serve. I had seen the jail only in the movies but it seemed even more horrendous to be in one. It was the miniature of the Hell that my Mom had described to me in one of her bedtime stories when I was a child. I was under the observance of numerous pairs of eyes from the adjacent cells which belonged to all kinds of criminals ranging from petty pickpockets and quacks to dacoits, murderers and local goons. They all seemed to me like human incarnations of devils from the Hell. The walls of the cell felt as cold as the morgue of our hospital. I was as scared now as I was on the night when I had come to know about the Hell from my mother during my childhood. That night, I had embraced her tightly and didn’t let her go at any cost out of the fear of the demons.

Mom smiled at me and said, “You don’t have to be afraid, dear. The Hell is for the sinners. As long as we follow the path of righteousness nothing is going to harm us ever.” Her word echoed in the malignant silence of the cell.

“What wrong did I do, Ma?” I said to myself. I wished my mother was with me to make me feel secure from all the devils in here by the warmth of her affection.

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