drug abuse

INJUSTICE IN JUSTICE

Chapter-III

Part I containing chapters I and II is here.

It wasn’t a lot of work. Vijay had to take a parcel from Paharganj and drop it at Chandni Chowk twice every week. He would be paid six thousand rupees every month. That was a lot of money. Vijay was happy with but over time, he started to feel inquisitive about why he was being paid so much and what was in the parcel.

One day, after completing his work, he went to Faraz to find answers. The answers left him speechless. The parcel contained acid pills, a high class drug which hits the central nervous system. This drug made people dream of heaven and took them to hell.

He wanted to quit this job now, but there was no way out. He knew that he was doing a wrong thing, but that was responsible for getting him the right things in his life. He wasn’t sure if he was to thank Faraz or blame him. But he knew one thing: if he had to survive this was his only way out. He needed happiness even if it was in the form of hallucination, his requiem for a dream.

In a matter of few months, in search for more jazz up his brain, he tried and continued with a lot more things. Diluter, hashish, speed, ecstasy, acid and heroine. More wants required more money. Now the school fee wasn’t the only concern. Once again, he turned to his old friend, Faraz for more money.

He did not dislike these things; instead he started liking them as these were the only things that never left him. Like a task which needs to be completed, and missions which need to be accomplished. These things gave him a life to be lived. He was to supply drugs to different consumers now. More of a drug peddling service than a courier boy work now.

Chapter IV

He was sitting at his place on a hot summer night. He had somehow managed to pass 12^th grade. He was ready to join a law college in Delhi, make new friends and enjoy his life. Never had he thought that all this was never going to happen.

There was a knock at the door. Vijay was surprised; hardly anyone knocked at his doors other than the salesmen or the old lady next door who seldom used to come to his house to check for his wellbeing. All this used to happen at the day time. It couldn’t be a friend. He used to have a lot many of them during the brighter days. But when his life became dark, friends too had stopped coming.

Moments later to his shock he realized that the police was at the door. He did not try to run away. He just walked away with them, without speaking a word. As if he knew everything. Life had taught so much to him. It skipped the lessons that taught how life can handle unequal shares of good and bad but that in strict equality lies law’s justice.

CHAPTER-V

Exactly two years after his parents death he stood before the court of law aware of the mistake made by him. At this juncture of life, the law was ready to punish him. But where were law and the society when he needed help, when he chose this path?

Was it bad to be an anti-social element when the social elements are anti-you. Endless questions with no answers told the story of the boy Vijaynath, who wanted to celebrate life . But instead he had to take all the pains. Was it his fault or of the circumstances? He himself couldn’t find any answers. On the day of the verdict in the court he only said: “I was never like this”.

He knew what was going on and he knew he was responsible for it, but he also knew that destitution and loneliness left him no choice. He was not angry with the court’s verdict. But he was sure that the lack of understanding by law of the society and its effect on people was ‘injustice in justice’.

Injustice in Justice

Chapter I

“I was never like this” were the words of the twenty year old boy Vijaynath. He could speak no more although a lot was expected to be said. He had been sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment for drug trafficking under the NDPS Act.

Two years ago, he was just another school going kid preparing for CLAT. On the night of Diwali, 14^th October, 2005 his life changed forever. He had come back to his room when the thought of switching on the TV came to his mind. This was his first Diwali without his parents who had left the town to meet his aunt.

Everything seemed to be going well with friends at his place ready to brighten the night already illumined by candles and fire crackers. His parents were on their way back to Delhi from Kanpur. He never really watched TV on Diwalis.

But just as he was going through the channels, his eyes started stinging, unable to see, his hands started shaking, paralyzed. The news flashed on every news channel. The Air India flight from Kanpur to Delhi had crashed midway at Roorhki. None of the passengers in the aircraft had survived. His parents, the affluent Damannath and Devinanath were on that plane.

Looking outside the window his eyes witnessed the story his heart refused to believe. The silent candles looked remorseful and fire crackers shrieked with grief.

CHAPTER II

The next day a plethora of people came to his house. Some were well wishers who wished him well. Others were well wishers who in hearts wished him unwell. Many were selfishly concerned about their own interests after his parent’s death.

The share holders of his father’s company held their claim, leaving behind little for Vijay. With no one to support him, the young boy had no way of making the business run. Initially the money that was left was able to sustain him for some time. But then another blow of life, that of destitution left him hopeless.

Dialogues from the Hindi movies became monologues, his monologues. There was a house but no home. There were rooms with no people. Helplessness became his day, loneliness his night. The candle was still burning though, melting away the wax which held his life to the spine.

There was no way he could support his life with such little resources. And the fact that he was just in 12th grade with no experience made him more helpless.

Leave alone the payment of his expenses and school fee, maintaining the house itself was proving undoable. Never had he realized that money and family were of such value. His other family members refused to show their faces after a few months as they knew that it was better not to know the liability that he was.

When the time of fee payment came up he knew he couldn’t pay the amount. This incident made him nervous. But he didn’t want to quit on it. He wanted to study and do well in life but to do this he needed money.

This is when he met Faraz. There was not much common between the two guys. Vijay was a school going kid where as Faraz was a soon to be college dropout. But there was something in Faraz that attracted Vijay to him.

Faraz had all the time in the world to loiter around schools and colleges and spend loads of money on loads of things. This very fact intrigued Vijay. Vijay met Faraz on his way back from school at the Chandni Chowk red light. Not the best place for a conversation but that was the place.

As time passed by, their friendship became much more than a mere acquaintance.  This is when Vijay sought Faraz’s help to get him work. Vijay knew Faraz could help him. As the day of the fee payment came closer, any kind of work seemed right to Vijay as long as it paid him well enough. Faraz had a deal for him. The deal that would change his life forever.

To be continued…

Author: Thakur

Editor: LegalPoet