Haziq, 16, had to miss his school tests and says his father has gone to arrange a medical certificate for him which he can show at his school tomorrow. He too doesn’t want to inform his school authorities about the trial.
Haziq, a sportsman, had to miss a Rugby tournament held at Gulmarg recently because he, had to attend the court and could not miss it at any cost. “It is 12.30 pm, is the judge coming?” asks Suhail, a salesman who is upset over the cuts in his monthly salary for being absent from the shop. The judge arrived and the case in criminal category is listed at number three. The hearing is expected to start at 1.30 in the afternoon.
“Really, has the judge come today?” asks Manzoor, “I haven’t seen her since my trial started, she was on leave. We, for last few months were given dates of next hearing and nothing else”. Shahnawaz, a salesman and one among the accused looks worried, his mother had an appointment with her doctor at 3 PM. Shahnawaz, her lone son, had to take her to the doctor. “The last time also she missed an appointment with the doctor because of my trial. This should not happen again”. Their lawyer suggests them to be in the courtroom. People were allowed into the courtroom only according to the number of chairs available. “Judge sahiba gets upset if people remain standing in her court, I will call you when your number comes,” says a policeman guarding the room to Manzoor and his mates (others accused).
They are made to sit outside. It is a jam-packed corridor, some of them sat on the stairs, some remain standing, and some sat on the benches. All ten of them are now waiting for their turn, chatting, giggling and cracking jokes, on the passer-bys, lawyers and policemen.
The guard of the courtroom too got interested in their chat and joined them. Getting friendly with these kids, the policemen revealed that Police “bribed” some of the youths who are presented in these courts against accused stone-pelters as witnesses. “They have a separate bank account for it and continuous money flows in those accounts,” he says, “they were boys among you, with you but do not have challans in their names like you have.” “When will our turn come? asks Shahnawaz to the policeman. He replies, “It will take some more time. There is a very serious case going on, a marital dispute case.”
It is 2.30 PM and they are not called in yet. The judge leaves for lunch break. “When will this break end?” Shahnawaz asks. “Probably 3.30 PM”, the policeman replied.
At 3.15 PM the judge finished her lunch and the session continues. At 4.00 PM the 10 accused stone-pelters were called in and exactly at 4.03 PM the preeding finished and the next date of trial was announced. In these three minutes a policeman counted these 10 boys and tallied their faces with the ones in their file photographs. “It is for these three minutes that we had to wait for five hours since the morning and my mother had to miss two continuous appointments with her doctor”, says Shahnawaz, disappointed. Manzoor adds another date into his small diary and Haziq calls his friends to ask how they did in their exams he missed?
(The names of accused stone-pelters have been changed on their request).
