A Judicial Dilemma

The premises of the sessions court was as usual abuzz with activity. Lawyers in their black coats moved in hurried steps jostling with the clients, aimless onlookers, lazy police personnel and tea sellers. To someone not tuned to this scene it would seem rather chaotic but to the bustling crowd the situation on this Tuesday morning was as normal as the rising of the sun. The entry of the blue barricaded police van which snaked its way into the premises from the gate also seemed to be a usual sight. The heavy iron mesh on the sides of the vehicle provided a glimpse of the prisoners being brought to the sessions court by the police. A few disinterested police guards accompanied the prisoners. The rear gate of the prison van was opened by one of the guards and the prisoners along with guards trooped out. Some of the onlookers had come closer to the prisoners and talked as if this was a routine affair. While most prisoners looked nonchalant in their countenance a few looked worn out and walked at a pace which belied their age. Among the prisoners alighting from the police van on that Tuesday morning was Manoj. He looked much beyond his forty-five years age, the sunken cheeks and the hollow eyes clearly showed that he was not among the hardened criminals. A pan chewing potbellied police man held Manoj’s hand and walked towards the court number three which was at the far end of the long corridor.

Judge Sushil Kumar was a punctual judge. As was his routine he was invariably on his chair by 10.15 am. This morning it was no different. By 11. 15 am, he had already heard almost twenty cases. Having been in the judicial position for the last fifteen years he had fully grasped the nuances of lawyers. His mind would read between the lines and not be swayed by superfluous arguments of advocates who had taken high fees from clients. In the last fifteen years, Judge Sushil Kumar had created a reputation of an honest and efficient judge.

The court room of Judge Sushil Kumar was almost full. Most of the chairs were occupied by advocates and their assistants. In a barricaded portion of the courtroom sat several undertrials. Most of them were not interested in court proceedings. In a corner sat Manoj, although his eyes were apparently fixed towards the judge, he seemed absent minded. His countenance portrayed his remorse. It was at 11.18 am that the court clerk, in a voice not fully a shout but slightly above normal decibel, announced Case number 840 of 2022, St Andrews College, State vs Manoj Singh. Hearing his name, Manoj became attentive, his gaze shifted to the two advocates who had picked their files and moved forward towards the podium in front of Judge Sushil Kumar to argue. Manoj recognized his lawyer. On several occasions Aftab Ahmad had met him in jail to take notes of the events that preceded and followed the murder of Father Joseph, the Principal of St Andrews College, for which Manoj has been charged with murder. Manoj didn’t recognize the other advocate, he thought that this advocate was perhaps representing the St Andrews College.

The counsel for the petitioner started to argue. In a practiced measured tone, he started his argument by extolling the virtues of Father Joseph who was loved by one and all. He told the court that Father Joseph was an extremely humble person who had devoted his life to the service of mankind in the name of Jesus. Father Joseph had no enemies. The counsel for the petitioner took a long pause, this was not a pause for recalling notes but he wanted this information to sink in the mind of the judge before he proceeded further.

The counsel for St Andrews College continued, he started narrating the events of that fateful Thursday which was the tenth of February 2022. He told the court that some students had not submitted their fee for the last couple of months despite numerous reminders. It was after several reminders that the Principal of St Andrews college had sent a message to all parents to personally report in his office on February tenth. At this point the counsel pointed a finger towards Manoj in the undertrial box. Everybody turned towards the man sitting on a stool in the trial box. Judge Sushil Kumar also looked at him. Manoj felt a bout of nausea when he realized that everyone was looking at him. The counsel continued his argument. He told the court that Manoj’s son had not deposited his fee for the last three months and this was told to Manoj by Father in a very polite way. Manoj had protested in a defiant way and asked for more time to deposit the fee. Father Andrews had told Manoj that his son will not be allowed to appear for examination if the fee was not deposited till this evening.

The Counsel again took a long pause, he glanced at the other lawyer who was representing Manoj, he veered his gaze towards Manoj in the undertrial box. The Counsel was satisfied that his argument was hitting the bull’s eye. He continued his argument telling the court that Manoj had behaved badly and had threatened Father Joseph of dire consequences if his son was not allowed to appear in his final examination. At this point Judge Sushil Kumar, without any reason, looked towards Manoj in the undertrial box. His mind was trying to find out why this innocent looking man would behave rudely with a polite Principal. While his eyes searched for those invisible cues which Judge Sushil Kumar’s mind had become so accustomed to recognize, his eighty-six billion neurons found another reason to fire. A remote corner of his mind was prompting his brain that this man who was sitting on the stool in the undertrial box was known to him. Judge Sushil Kumar again looked towards the presenting Counsel who was beginning a new narrative.

The Counsel addressing the Judge continued that on February 10, 2022 when Manoj was furiously arguing with Father Joseph, he had become infuriated. The counsel told the court that on the fateful day when Manoj was abusing father Joseph, Father stood from his chair and wanted to go out of the room. It was at this point that Manoj had picked up the heavy glass paper weight from the table and hit Father Joseph on his head. After being hit on the back of the skull by the trajectile thrown by Manoj, Father had collapsed. The Counsel again took a break. He looked towards Manoj and in a tone which was an octave higher to his previous decibel, pointing his index finger, said that My Lord this man is a murderer. He murdered Father Joseph in cold blood. This is a murder of not only a man but of the society. The Father was revered not only because of his faith but because of his selfless service to the society.

There was pin drop silence in the courtroom. Judge Sushil Kumar again looked towards Manoj. Manoj looked forlorn. Although his eyes were open but he was not looking towards anyone. For a moment his eyes met Judge Sushil Kumar’s sight. Manoj saw the heavy eyebrows above those penetrating eyes. A thought crossed his mind but he could not latch upon the reason why his brain had become active. Manoj’s thought returned to the proceedings of the court. He knew that the petitioner’s counsel had by and large narrated the exact sequence of events. It was a different matter that the counsel had played with certain facts to make his case strong. Manoj recollected that in February 2022, he was in great debt, he had lost his job due to COVID. It was only one month back in January that his wife had died due to cancer. On the day when Father had called him in his office, he had pleaded with Father Joseph with tears in his eyes to give him one more month for depositing the fee of his son. He had told Father that after the death of his wife, his son was the only one left in his family. Manoj also recollected that he had literally begged Father to allow his son to take the examination, he didn’t want his son to be a fifth-class dropout due to economic reasons. Manoj’s thought also relived the traumatic memory how he had wept and pleaded with Father telling him that almost thirty years back he had to leave the same school in fifth standard when his father had died, in fact murdered, and how subsequently he left school due to the family’s inability to pay the fee.

Manoj’s eyes focused on the proceedings. His counsel Aftab Ahmad was organizing his file and was about to commence his argument. Manoj’s mind again drifted to his thoughts. He remembered that in a show of gesture of humility, he had kneeled down and grasped the feet of Father Joseph pleading that his son be given one month more time to deposit fee. At that very moment the school bell had rung and Father started to rise from his chair. Manoj could recollect the face of the Father while he was pleading with tears in his eyes. There was no kindness in Father’s eyes. Suddenly he saw that Father was walking out of his office. Manoj recollected the moment when in a fit of rage, he had picked the paper weight from the table and threw it towards Father Joseph. The paper weight hit Father Joseph just above the neck and he collapsed. Manoj remembered that he too was dazed after the incident. He didn’t try to flee and surrendered without any resistance.

Aftab Ahmad started his argument by pointing a finger at Manoj who was now too dazed after hearing the first argument. At Aftab Ahmad’s insistence when Judge Sushil Kumar looked at Manoj, Aftab Ahmad in a pleading voice asked the Judge whether the man sitting inside the prisoner enclosure looks like a criminal who would go to a school with the intent of murder. Aftab was deliberately playing on the mind of Judge who had a reputation of forming opinion based on his own perception. Aftab continued his argument. He told the judge that his client is a man of modest means and he was very hard pressed since he lost his job during COVID. Aftab argued that Manoj had lost his wife just one month before this unfortunate incident had happened on February 10, 2022.

The argument of Aftab was going in the right direction. From the faces of other lawyers in the courtroom it was apparent that Aftab had weaved a solid alibi for the crime for which Manoj was being tried. Aftab continued that Manoj had suffered many hardships since childhood. While Manoj was a student of class V in the same school, the St Andrews College, some thirty years back, his father was murdered by land mafia syndicate. Despite the fact that Manoj was one of the brightest students in class he had to leave studies since the family had no means to pay college fee. Manoj had completed basic level education from vernacular school and then got a private job. He had lost this private job during COVID.

Judge Sushil Kumar was listening intently to the argument. He was amazed that even after an hour of argument the Counsel representing Manoj had not countered the charge that Manoj had actually murdered Father Joseph. However, despite the silent admission of the crime, Judge Sushil Kumar felt that Manoj’s crime was probably not premeditated and that it was a result of circumstances which went back to thirty years. As Aftab continued to argue, he came to the events of February ten narrating Manoj’s version of how he had pleaded with Father Joseph, the clock struck signaling the end of days schedule. The judge adjourned the case for the next day.

On way to home Judge Sushil Kumar kept on thinking about the case where a man was charged with a crime of murder. However, for him the intriguing part was that the man under trial looked familiar. He recollected how his brain had flagged the moment when he first saw the man in the trial box. Judge Sushil Kumar’s mind started to fill the gaps in the memory of his mind.

By the time he reached his home, Judge Sushil Kumar had created a hypothesis in his mind. He wanted to cross check it before he proceeded further. Once inside his house, he went to the attic and fished out the large trunk where he had stored all the papers, diaries, documents and other items after his father’s death. Once settled in his room, he started leafing through the old papers, diaries and registers. He found the diary where his father had chronicled his business deals and other important facts during the period between January to December 1978. He patiently went through all the details. There was a detailed mention of some conversation with his business partners and some difference of opinion with someone named Santosh Singh. At a later stage a mention was made which said that ‘problem eliminated’. The Judge’s mind took note of this veiled mention by his father. His mind started filling the gaps. The hypothesis in his mind looked true.

Judge Sushil Kumar went back in the attic and fished out his own trunk in which he had stored all his school records. Surfing documents in this lot was easier, he knew what he was searching. Within minutes he had chanced upon the old manila envelope which contained all his old photographs from school days when the only means to have a photograph was through a hard copy. As he glanced through the bundle, it was within five minutes that he had the group photograph of Class V A of St Andrews School. His eyes searched for a kid named Manoj Singh. Judge Sushil Kumar’s mind took less than a quarter of a second to connect the lanky boy standing in the second row to the undertrial Manoj who was sitting helplessly on a stool in the convict chamber of Court number three this morning. Judge Sushil Kumar knew he had solved the mystery which his mind had detected when he first saw Manoj Singh, the undertrial.

That night when Judge Sushil Kumar went to bed having skipped dinner on the pretext that he was not feeling well, he felt heavy in the chest. By this time his mind had filled all the pieces of the puzzle in the correct format. The forty five year old Manoj Singh, accused of cold blooded murder of Father Joseph, was his classmate some thirty years back in St Andrews. Judge Sushil Kumar recollected that Manoj Singh was very bright and always stood first or second in class. Manoj was also a close friend at that time and suddenly he had stopped coming to class. Judge Sushil Kumar now recollected that Manoj also did not appear in the final examination. Time passed and everyone had forgotten Manoj Singh.

Judge Sushil Kumar’s memory flashback reached the point where he realized that Manoj’s absence from the school was linked to the demise of his father and the inability of the family to pay the school fee. The realization by Judge Sushil Kumar that his own father had orchestrated the murder of Manoj’s father made him sick. A feeling of disdain emerged from his heart and he silently cursed his father for a crime which cannot be justified. His judicial mind came to the conclusion that the murder for which Manoj was being tried today was in fact committed some thirty years back by his father. The deeper Judge Sushil Kumar taxed his brain, more emotions came pouring in. He started to feel the pain of a young child barely in his teens losing his father to an untimely sudden death. He perceived the trauma that a young Manoj Singh must have felt when at an early age he had to work to earn a living. Sushil Kumar felt the intense distress of a helpless father when the man had begged the Principal of St Andrews school to grant one more month to his son for depositing fee. Judge Sushil Kumar felt a strange sense of melancholy. He continued to ask himself the question as to how he would have behaved if he was wearing Manoj’s shoes? On several occasions that night Judge Sushil Kumar wanted to blurt out the answer to this question but he was afraid to acknowledge the naked reality of life. Judge Sushil Kumar felt weak. He lay in bed but sleep eluded him the whole night.

Manoj’s case again came up before Judge Sushil Kumar the next day. Arguments started. It was Aftab Ahmad who started with his unfinished argument. Aftab Ahmad focused on the false premise that Father Joseph was killed by an innocuous strike by a small paper weight. He elaborated his argument by opening several other possibilities. Aftab Ahmad placed before the Judge medical records of Father Joseph which showed that Father was a heart patient and thus, he could have suffered a fatal cardiac arrest just at the time when he stood from his chair even before Manoj threw the paper weight. Aftab Ahmad continued to argue for a good ninety minutes giving several possible examples which could have been the reason of Father Joseph’s death. While both the Counsels were arguing their cases, Judge Sushil Kumar’s mind was still playing back the information which he had gathered from his father’s diary last evening. In between he glanced towards Manoj who looked paler than yesterday. Every time he saw this forty-five-year-old man, his brain recollected the image of a lanky eleven-year-old boy happily playing cricket in the St Andrews school field.

The arguments in Manoj’s case closed at lunch. The judge announced a new date when the two sides would present witnesses for their testimony. New cases flooded Court Number three. However, in between the varied cases listed before Judge Sushil Kumar, he found it hard to erase the lingering thought of Manoj. At frequent intervals his mind reminded him that had Manoj not lost his father in early childhood he too would have been in a good position, much like him. If that had been the case, Manoj would not be pleading for school fee and he would not have committed the murder for which he was facing this trial.

Manoj’s case lingered in Court for three more months. The arguments had closed. The Counsel representing St Andrews College had proved without doubt that Father Joseph was killed by the hit on his skull by the paper weight thrown at him by Manoj. The Counsel had pleaded for death sentence. Aftab Ahmad, Manoj’s advocate, had harped on the fact that Manoj had no intention to kill or harm the Principal. Aftab Ahmad had also pleaded that the Judge may like to consider the circumstances which preceded the events of February 10, 2022 and be lenient on Manoj.

Since the murder of Father Joseph had been the talk of the town for a long-time last year, a horde of media had assembled to cover the delivery of judgement on December 20, 2023 at the Sessions Court. Aftab Ahmad had requested the Court to allow Anuj, the twelve-year-old son of Manoj, to come to the Court on the judgement day. The Court had granted permission.

The Sessions Court premises exuded the same busy atmosphere on December 20, 2023. As usual the lawyers walked in quick strides. The tea sellers had a motley crowd on their stalls. A few policemen, oblivious of the judgements inside courtrooms, found stools and chairs to sit in areas where they could get sunlight. The arrival of the blue armored police van also looked a usual sight. This happened every day. Today when the prisoners came out escorted by lazy looking police guards, Manoj was also in that group. In the last three months he had lost some weight. He looked lost and silently followed the policeman who escorted him to Court number three.

The Court number three was jam packed. Lawyers in hushed tones were discussing what Judge Sushil Kumar was going to decide. In the back bench of the court, a young eleven-year-old boy was sitting. Anuj had by now understood what today’s judgement meant for him. After his mother had died last year, he had no other person to look up to except his father. He knew today’s judgment may change everything.

It was just before fifteen past ten that a frail looking Manoj was escorted inside the enclosure of undertrials. Anuj eyes looked intently towards his father, he wanted to make eye contact with his father but the din inside the courtroom prevented any possible communication. A few minutes later the man in white uniform announced that everyone must stand, the Judge was about to enter the Courtroom.

Proceedings started with the clerk announcing Case number 840 of 2022. Although there was no scope for any arguments at this stage but both the Counsels, one representing St Andrews College and other representing Manoj stood up from their chairs and took their positions before the Judge.

Judge Sushil Kumar looked stoic. He opened the file kept on his table. He leafed a few pages and then addressed Counsel for Manoj asking him whether his request for allowing Manoj’s son to witness Court proceedings has been granted. Aftab Ahmad nodded his head in the affirmative muttering My Lord. The Judge asked the Counsel to bring Manoj’s son before the court. Anuj was escorted to the front. Judge Sushil Kumar saw Anuj. No one could see but the Judge’s eyes were wet. Judge Sushil Kumar memory took him back thirty years, in that fleeting moment his mind superimposed the image of an eleven-year-old Manoj. The Judge again felt a lump in his throat. Anuj stood there under the glare of peering eyes. His gaze met the sight of Manoj. The silent conversation between a convicted father and a teenage helpless son made everyone wondering about the vagaries of destiny.

Judge Sushil Kumar instructed that Anuj be escorted back to his place in the back row. Without any preamble he started delivering the judgement. The first part of the judgement dealt with the details of events of February 2022. Dwelling more on legal nuances which took another ten minutes, Judge Sushil Kumar started delivering the operative part. He started ‘it is proved beyond doubt that the death of Father Joseph was caused by a hit on his head by the heavy paper weight thrown towards him by Manoj Singh. The Court has gone into the history of Manoj Singh and observes that Manoj Singh has no criminal history associated with his records. The prosecution failed to establish that when Manoj Singh came to the office of the Principal on February 10, 2022, he carried the intent to harm the Principal. To the court it is obvious that Manoj Singh wanted to seek more time for depositing the fee of his son. The Court relying on records supplied by the College is convinced that Manoj Singh’s son Anuj was a very bright student in Class V and that after that fateful day he has been forced to leave school. In view of the facts and circumstances cited above, the Court finds Manoj Singh guilty of culpable homicide under Section 304 of the IPC. He will undergo Life Imprisonment’. 

The Courtroom was in silence. It is not often that a convict is given life imprisonment. Judge Sushil Kumar continued ‘ this Court directs the administration of St Andrews College to give admission to the son of convict Manoj Singh without any preconditions. A sealed letter will be delivered to the Principal of St Andrews College detailing how the fee will be charged from Anuj Singh. A sealed letter will also be delivered to the District Magistrate detailing how other expenses and higher education of Anuj Singh will be covered’.

Two days later the Management Council of St Andrews College convened an emergency meeting wherein the official letter received from Judge Sushil Kumar was opened. The document was a note with a signature of a notary bearing the affidavit of Sushil Kumar. The affidavit said that till the time Anuj Singh is a student of St Andrews College the fee will be paid directly to the college by Mr Sushil Kumar. No mention of this has to be made to Anuj Singh.

A couple of kilometers away, a similar exercise was underway in the office of the District Magistrate. A similar affidavit affirmed that all expenses of Anuj Singh from today and till he completes his higher education will be covered from a bank account mentioned below. This arrangement may be treated as a judicial order and also be considered strictly confidential.