I am writing this story in utter confusion and absolute distress because I have received a letter from my old friend , now an inmate of Srinagar central Jail . It is a sort of appeal to public in general and to the readers of this post in particular , thereby seeking their help and pleading himself innocent . The copy of his appeal shall be reproduced in original by me at the end of my post but first let me introduce you with the backdrop of the calamity which befell on him some thirty years back.
The story begins with the transfer of my father to a small village about fifteen Kms away from Srinagar city towards south as a country Doctor . Most of village heads and known people living there started visiting my father to introduce themselves as it was customary those days to pay such visits to the new incumbent of any Govt. Department by the village heads. Once I noticed an elderly man with conspicuous disposition talking to my father a bit loudly reflecting a streak of arrogance from his suspicious countenance .I came to know that he was a big landlord of village and his name was Shri Kanth Ram. Later on he became a very good friend of my father and visited our residence often , sometimes with fresh vegetables as a gift to my father , being the new crop of his farm . Kanth Ram was a chronic bachelor and therefore , he had no family . But he had employed few servants who worked at his farm and helped him in domestic chores also . Later on it transpired that Kanth Ram had some relatives , who were also living in the same village . It was actually the family of his younger brother , who had already expired . Now his widow was living with her children ,comprising of a son and a daughter, in a very miserable condition . They had some family dispute on division of property and land , the major portion of which appeared to have been usurped by Kanth Ram after the death of his younger Brother leaving his family in distress . Therefore , they were always at daggers drawn with Kanth Ram . Kanth Ram being very rich Landlord never helped his brothers family in distress. The name of the nephew of Kanth Ram was Tej. He was reading with me in village School. He was very mischievous type of boy . He was often beaten up by his teachers for creating some trouble in the School. He started taking rift with his Uncle right from his childhood. He had become a rebel type person perhaps due to injustice meted out to his family. Tej grew up in to a ruffian and started threatening his uncle often . Many times he created very awful scenes while fighting with his uncle . Every villager was aware of the rift between the two. One day Tej even threatened his uncle to kill him in full public view. The rift between Uncle and Nephew had become the talk of town . Many times Tej was caught red handed for damaging the crops of the farm of his Uncle by his guards and beaten up blue and black by them.
On the fateful night a servant of Kanth Ram called on Tej and advised him that his uncle was seriously ill and wanted to see him urgently . Tej thought for some time and finally decided to visit his uncle . When Tej opened the bed room door of his uncle , he found his uncle already dead and his head badly damaged with a wooden cudgel lying nearby . A cold shrill passed through the spine of Tej and his cry for help was suppressed by loud noise of the two servants ,who entered the room abruptly and caught hold of him.
Police was called and they apprehended toTej.
Tej implored them for his innocence but no body beleived him. The case was executed well by the prosecution in the court as there was motive of crime well defined against Tej because he was beneficiary to the property of deceased . Many witnesses admitted about the life threats given by Tej to Kanth Ram often . The defence Lawyer could not prove the innocence of Tej despite of his best efforts.
Tej was awarded sentence of life imprisonment till his death . Only after lapse of a year or so from happening of this incident our community migrated to different parts of country due to turmoil in Kashmir and they totally forgot about it.
Now I reproduce hereunder in original the letter or appeal of Tej , which I received through unknown sources for satisfying the curiosity of readers as promised by me earlier .
Appeal
I Tej Kumar Bhat son of Late Sh. Mohishar Nath Bhat Resident of ..... appeal to people who have read my story to help me in distress . I am languishing in Srinagar central Jail for the last thirty years for no fault of mine. I hope that after reading my story you people must be sure of my innocence ,which could not be proved by my Defence lawyers in the court of Law at material time. I believe that you people will work hard to reopen my case once again and arrange best lawyers , who can defend me well and prove my innocence in the court of law . But I know very well that you could not defend the innocent killings of hundreds of our community brothers by bringing the culprits to book . You remain satisfied when such cases were declared time barred by Supreme court of India . My case is much older than that. But I assure you that no case of injustice becomes time barred untill justice prevails . Therefore , I reiterate my appeal to you people to provide justice to me and hundreds of my community brothers who were deprived of justice . Otherwise I am compelled to say that you people will not heave a sigh of relief or take a wink of sleep hereafter, if you will not plead my innocence
and avenge the death of hundreds of my community brothers by bringing the real culprits to book .
Please do not sleep over the matter . Otherwise our community will always be taken for granted by everyone.
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