The Spy

I am innocent!

I had no idea how my innocence and inability to communicate was miscued.

The policeman looked at me menacingly and guffawed. “Every criminal says he is innocent. Why, even our courts allow people to plead innocence and the onus is on us, the law keepers, to prove the guilt. You see, we are in India.”

I don’t know what to do or say. Even if I say, I knew they wouldn’t neither listen nor understand.

It all started three days ago when I was sitting just minding my own business when that man in beard and a long dress approached me. I was captured and kept in isolation for a full day without food or water. 

They took me in a jeep to a far away place. I had never been there. The look and feel of that place felt very new and scary to me.

I was not given any guidelines. All they were talking about me was to free me!

I felt elated.

Finally, the sanity has prevailed, I thought.

But I was dis appointed as they parked the jeep in the thick of jungle and waited for the sun to set. How will I travel at night, if they freed me at night? I wondered.

They paid no attention to me but were pre occupied in writing something on a paper.

There was a heated argument as to how I should carry their message.

The elderly of the two finally convinced his younger partner in crime that it should be left to the experienced person like him. I heard him say, “ Leave it to me brother. I have done this many times. She is not the only carrier I have worked with. There were many like her but this time, we are making her cross the border at night. 

We don’t want the military on the other side to get this information before we put all the pieces together and make a firm plan.”

I understood that something sinister is being planned and I would be playing an important part of carrying a message to some one across the border.

I loathed these men!

They would go to any extent to put their sinister plans and use any one; they are un fit to be humans, I thought, but kept to myself.

Finally, it was very late at night, I suspected just couple of hours before sun rise that I was carried further towards border and unleashed on the enemy across the border!

I was caught even as the sun rose and found myself arrested by the border police!

The policemen stood in front of his supervisor and explained, albeit with lot of exaggeration as to how difficult for him to capture me! In reality, I just went to him directly not knowing who he was!

The Chief looked at me and asked the policemen to file an FIR.

The policemen looked, with disbelief writ large on his face and spoke haltingly. “Sir? FIR? On her?”

The chief looked sharply as if to say, why are you disobeying my orders? The policeman simply put his head down and walked to wards his desk taking me along with him, for preparing the FIR.

The Chief and policeman took me in their jeep to the district magistrate’s court.

The judge was busy and when the Chief spoke that they have to produce the spy and need to be put in remand to extract more information to take the case forward, the magistrate, who was busy looked up and spoke. “Well, produce the so called spy.”

The Chief looked at magistrate surprisingly and said, “Sir, we have already brought. She is in front of you!”

Magistrate looked with disbelief on his face and spoke. “What? You have filed an FIR and want custody for this?”

The chief looked at magistrate and nodded his head.

“Yes Sir. The culprits across the border have used her to send some secret information and we have already filed FIR!”

I made my usual sound and fluttered my wings and looked at the magistrate who was just staring at me wide eyed and even large mouth!.

The magistrate in a barely audible voice spoke. “You have filed an FIR on a Pigeon?”