One afternoon...i am sitting in my office chatting with Vinod
me: hi vinod
Vinod: hi parimal
me: what's up man?
Vinod: in office
not much
but feel like doing many things
me: :) like
Vinod: many good things.. like study, relax at home, leave job, play with baby , join school, roam around the world..etc..
me: :) same here
Vinod: On 6th June I have go to court as a witness for the robbery related case
I had gone to the court on 20th and had a first experience of court
me: how was it?
Vinod: interesting... came to know how courts are and how trials happen in session court.. its very different than what one sees in movies
Three armed people broke into Vinod's house at montvert pristine at 10:30 in night for robbing his house but with his presense of mind and courage, he was able to pull them out and they all got caught and after around 2 years of custody, their trial was about to begin. Next date was on coming saturday and i decided that i will accompany him.
It was saturday morning 11 am, we got into the court at shivajinagar. I was charged. It was my first time to go to court to attend a case hearing and that too a robbery case. We went to meet the public prosecutor.
Note: A public prosecutor is the one who is appointed by govt to fight a case for public and gov pays him.
After discussing a couple of points with him, we went to the courtroom. It was a 3 storied building with many courtrooms in them. Ours was a hall, decent big, slightly bigger than half the size of an badminton court i guess.
Judge was sitting in the middle with two folks, one on his right side and other on left. They were entering all the case details, in computer as well as manual. To brief you about this, its nothing like what we see in the movies. There was only one box (katghara) in which anyone who wants to say something (witness or criminal) will stand and tell the judge what he wants to. You will not even come to know what he is saying, its only possible for the judge and lawyers to hear.
This was second time vinod was coming for giving his "gawaahi". First time he came, the accused were not present. This time, four of them were present sitting in the accused katghara. (it was near the door on the other side of the room opposite to the judge. One was still not present. Vinod gave his gawahi but since the forth accused was not present, his gawahi was incomplete as he has to identify all five. And we got the next date.
The only part that i realize was as per the movies is - taarikh pe taarikh. We went again after a couple of weeks on the next date and what we got - taarikh :D This time, the defense lawyer was not present as he had a hearing in the high court.
Though the robbers were caught red handed, still our legal system has so many ifs and buts and dates that i now very well understand why these court cases take so long to deduce something conclusive. Its very interesting.
When these robbers were caught red handed, there were many people, watchman, neighbors etc. But i was quite surprised that nonone was present at the hearing. I found it quite strange. People like us are soft targets and yet we do not understand the importance of standing by other people like us who are facing something new and strange. Vinod and his wife were getting calls from unknown folks asking them to take the case back. I felt how ridiculous this thing is. They were caught red handed and this is a open and shut case as they say but still these folks are trying these things.
Its really difficult to really face life and not run away from situation. The lesson to be learn is, we should be aware of a minimal of law to really live in this world and we should be people who are facing situations like this and never forget that We are living in the same world :)
Note: 1. you will get 200 Rs per visit as a witness in case the defense lawyer is not present. The accused will be charged 500 Rs and you'll get 200 and court will get 300 :D
2. You are entitled to get a copy of FIR or any statement (duly signed by investigating officer) you give to the investigating officer.
3. You should not talk loudly when in courtroom. Judges are normally very serious people (their job is really tough i must say) and any silly thing that you do might land you behind the bars under contempt of court. See "My cousin vinny" to know more about contempt of court :D
Gawaahi abhi baki hai....
