I'm not telling a new story out here but something that hit me hard when I heard it. A lawyer at one of our local courts had a decent practice. He wasn't one to wear a tie and work in a corporate office but had a small place where "small-fry" clients visited him for their anticipatory bails and criminal applications.

The sad part, or the scary part is that his brother was not a very clean guy. He had some links to law-breaking citizens and sometimes he was known to tip off the police too.

One day, the lawyer got a call from his brother late in the night. He said that he would probably go "underground" as there was some talk in the circles about his encounter being planned!

The lawyer got a little frantic but did not lose his sanity. He immediately got in touch with all the authorities by sending fascimiles and making phone calls to all possible police stations and the commissioner's office initimating them that there was threat to his brother's life.

He tried calling up his brother too but did not get any response. His sister-in-law was completely hyper and losing consciousness with the stress and chaos by then.

I do not want to be very crude in the details of the events after this but the short point is that his brother was killed in an encounter, in a very cruel way.

He approached the court against the police, alleging that it was a fake encounter and the case is still pending against the officers accused in the case.

He got one of the senior criminal counsels on his case, and was now one of the clients now. Sometimes he tells me, it is far too difficult, being on the other side. As a professional practice, we try to understand the difficulties of our clients but cannot fathom the seriousness or depth of agony they undergo.

His brother was not right, not all clean, but he was the brother. Blood ties are harder to lose. But being a client and undergoing the pain, much too deep!