Chapter 18: Consequences.

Esha's Point of View:

42 years later...

Today is the first day after my retirement. My career came to an end with the hearing of several important and historic cases in my life as the Chief Justice of the High Court. The verdict of that important and historic case in this last period of my life will be written in gold in my memory that is the repeal of Section 377 of the country's Penal Code for life and for the first time the implementation of LGBT rights in Bangladesh like in other countries of the world. Although Bangladesh was able to keep pace with the world much later in this war for equal rights, I think it is much better to be late than never be able to do it. Establishing this law in this country has never been so easy. Because there was so much limitation and so much pressure in every step!  But the great thing is that today's results are the result of the efforts and hard work of those lawyers who did not accept the defeat. They faced many obstacles but did not give up. Rather, they have snatched victory by presenting the appropriate rationale to the court. Although I have heard the verdict. Even if I die at this old age now, maybe I can die with some peace. Although the happiness of my life ended at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three.

I still remember kissing Neha that day. The next day I hugged Neha in the cafeteria and immediately she fell asleep with her eyes closed on my lap. But she did not wake up. We all called Neha, but she wasn't opening her eyes. Immediately after that we took Neha to the hospital. Mahdin conveyed the news to Neha's parents. We went to the hospital at 4 pm and Neha's parents came at 6 pm. At 8 pm, the surgeon came out of the operation theater and said that Neha had been rescued this time but her condition was not good at all because Neha had gone down on coma. Now she has been shifted to ICU.  Relatives of the patient can visit after 1 hour. Meanwhile, Neha's parents were asking the doctor what had happened to their daughter. The doctor was silent for a while and said that there might be an attempt to murder her. High doses of aspirin and phenylethylamine were found in her blood. However, the doctor was not sure whether it was a murder or a suicide case. When we heard about the suicide, we all shouted that Neha was never a weak-hearted person who would try to commit suicide so easily. After listening to us, the doctor told us to file a case at the police station without delay. A case was filed in the police station very quickly and the case was filed against the seller from whom Neha had bought the medicine. At first, Neha's father thought that his daughter could be killed by his enemies because he had no lack of enemies. Since Neha's father was the secretary of the Home Ministry, all the police forces and the CID rushed to investigate the case. The incident made headlines in newspapers and TV channels.  CID ACP Tanvir Rahman has been appointed as the head of the investigation committee. Within that day, the drug dealer was remanded to the police station and it was later found out that he had sold the drug without a doctor's prescription. He did not want to do it but he was disappointed to see that the condition of the buyer was bad so he sold it. However, he sold 500 mg. He further informed that after leaving his shop, Neha met someone on the way. The person might be a woman but he could not see their faces as they were standing turn their backs on. The seller also said that the person took something out of Neha's bag and put something in it. ACP Tanvir jailed the drug dealer for 14 days and fined him BDT 20,000 (approximately 234.67 USD) for selling drugs without seeing the prescription. Then he went to the pharmacy and collected the footage from the CCTV camera outside the shop and saw that one's face could be seen in a vague way.

The next day we were all told to go to the CID office so that we could identify the person. We all saw and said one thing, this girl is none other than Sara.

On the other hand, I could not believe that Sara could do such a heinous thing to achieve her own purpose. Even though I didn't like her on that way, I also never hated her. But knowing this incident gave birth to intense hatred for Sarah in my mind. The hatred and disrespect for her cannot be erased from my mind even if she tries all her life. Meanwhile, Neha has been in a coma for 5 days. I go to see her every day. Sometimes I look at her tranquil body and break into tears. Wasn't it doleful to see how peacefully her soul was sleeping yet her body was lamenting in pain? If she opens her eyes, she will be reborn. And if once she gives up her last breath, she will fall asleep for the rest of her life. She will never wake up again.

On the seventh day, Neha truly breathed her last and said goodbye to this cruel world forever.

This put more pressure on ACP Tanvir's shoulders. This time, the Home Minister himself called and said that the culprit should be brought to justice as soon as possible after a proper investigation. Sara has not been found anywhere for the last seven days. There is absolutely no sign of her. Meanwhile, Rokhsana ma'am's condition is bad. Her only niece has disappeared, she is almost half-alive. Meanwhile, ACP Tanvir has repeatedly said that her niece is the main accused in a murder case and that's the main reason she fled away. But if they find a trace that she helped her niece to hide without being brought to justice, she should remember that she also has to suffer the same punishment for that crime. Rokhsana ma'am's comment was that she is a well-known lawyer, she has enough knowledge about law. According to her, someone framed Sara and then kidnapped her and made her disappear. The last day she saw Sara, she was with her bags packed and going somewhere. Sara looked very upset. She tried to stop her but she didn't listen to any of her words. She also repeatedly asked Sara where was she going, why was she going but Sara said that she was going missing with her boyfriend so that she was not stopped. According to Rokhsana ma'am, it might be her 'that lover' who framed her after conducing such a mess. 

ACP Tanvir asked if she knew that lover of her. Rokhsana ma'am said she was not sure but she often heard from her about her lab assistant professor from their university. Maybe that was the person.

ACP Tanvir was equalizing the formulas in his mind. Meanwhile, one day he phoned me and asked me to meet him in person at a restaurant. Therefore, I went to meet with him.

Mr. Tanvir asked me who I think could be the real suspect? Sarah, that lab assistant professor or lawyer Rokhsana Hafeez herself. I told him that if he wanted to stand a logic with a cool head, one thing would become clear again and again.

ACP Tanvir was stunned as he could not understand any of my words.

I told him that day with a light smile, "Look, you shouldn't make someone a suspect who isn't logically suspicious. The suspect must be a good chemist. Otherwise they'll never know, nor will they understand being such a cool headed how to use a chemical to kill someone by blaming it's suicide in the contrary it's a homicide."

ACP Tanvir's face lit up as he listened to me by complimenting me, "Bravo, Miss Esha."

In the evening of the same day, the Lab Assistant Professor of Sara's University was picked up from his home and remanded for 7 days of interrogation. The lab assistant professor repeatedly said that he was waiting at his house until 6:30 pm that day but Sara did not come. Then he waited at the bus stand till 1 am but still did not go. They had a bus at 8 o'clock at night. He further said that Sara was agreed to marry him, Assistant Professor Mr. Javed Rahman when he proposed her to get married 2 weeks ago. For this reason, Mr. Javed wanted to take Sara to his village home in Nilphamari outside Dhaka city to meet his mother. But Sara didn't that day. Mr. Javed thought Sara might be a little late but no problem. They will buy the next bus ticket and leave. But after waiting at the bus stand till 1 am, Sara did not come. Mr. Javed has called Sara many times but Sara's phone was off.  Even for the last 10 days, even after not meeting Mr. Javed in person for this whole time, she didn't make a single call to apologize or to say a single word to him. Mr. Javed loves Sara very much.  If Sarah apologizes by calling only once, he will forgive all of her mistakes and he still agrees to marry her. Mr. Javed was remanded for 3 days instead of 7 days and then was released.

Sara's corpse was rescued from the river Buriganga 13 days later. This time the whole world seems to fall apart investigation committees. They have no idea what happened. In the contrary, Rokhsana ma'am came to the CID office and threatened everyone that if they left any gap in the investigation, Rokhsana ma'am would throw a case against all of them and manage a way to beat their asses in the jail. Meanwhile, she also met with Neha's father and threatened him the same thing. The issue started to become political and national when things began to get intense. This made headlines in all the national TV channels and newspaper in the country, 'One of the main suspects of the murder of the only daughter of the Secretary of home ministry, nation's influential lawyer Rokhsana Hafiz's niece is no longer alive. Unfortunately she's also a victim of homicide.'

On the other hand, ACP Tanvir is under severe pressure. The autopsy committee reported that Sara was strangled to death, but no fingerprints were found. It is believed that the killer was wearing gloves. Sarah's body was then thrown into the water. The killing took place about 48 hours before the body was thrown into the water, forensic experts said.

Again ACP Tanvir personally invited me to meet him at the same restaurant. I went to meet with him. ACP Tanvir asked, "When will your graduation ceremony be?"

I said, "After three months."

Mr. Tanvir said, "Well. So soon you are going to be a lawyer. I am really impressed with your smartness. You are very intelligent. So this time too I have a question for you."

"Please ask your question."

"Well who do you think killed Miss Sara?"

"How do I know that? Or are you suspecting me? Look, no matter who you suspect, it's your job to find out who's guilty. If I could, then I'd be in your place."

"Well, I'm sorry. It's not right to ask this question. My question is, I don't think Miss Neha was killed by Miss Sara. Isn't it believed thay no one kills anyone for no reason? Okay then, would you please tell me, what was your relationship with Miss Sara and Miss Neha?" 

"Look, I don't know if it's okay for me to say that. I'm still saying that. Yes, many in this conservative society may not accept me, but I'm still not intimidated. Hell yes, Neha was my girlfriend. Yes, I'm a lesbian women..."

Mr. Tanvir stopped me and said, "Look, I don't mind even if you are an alien. You are a citizen of this country. It is my duty to protect you. Please don't think of yourself as a criminal just because you are a lesbian. Although our constitution considers it as a shameful crime. But I think our constitution is still in its infancy. I don't know when the constitution will change and the mentality of the people will change in this country. But hopefully, one day a country like this third world will definitely change and our country will also rise in the list of first world countries."

I was very happy to hear the words of ACP Tanvir that day.  I said, "Well, you can think of it as a love triangle. I loved Neha. Neha loved me. But Sara loved me."

"Well, then?"

"I once heard from Sarah that Rokhsana ma'am wants Sara to marry her son because she never wants Sara to be a lesbian."

ACP Tanvir stayed silence for a while then said, "I see.. Thank you so much Miss Esha for giving me time today. And no one will know about the information you have given us. We will ensure your safety."

That day I said goodbye to ACP Tanvir and got out of the restaurant. Meanwhile, in the evening, Sadia called me and said that she could feel our condition since Neha's death. She said that if Neha had survived, she would have given her maximum support.  Eventually Sadia's homophobia was extirpated. That Sadia is now a famous writer of Bangladesh. Who has over 30 books on the LGBT genre. These books are written to encourage readers to support LGBT and to extirpate fears and homophobia from people's mind. Mahdin, on the other hand, is now in Australia. He is living a happy life there by marrying a white boy. I didn't even think that Mahdin would be so well-committed from such a playboy.  Meanwhile, Tonmoy and Sadia are married and have two children. Not only the baby but now a girl has been born in the house of Tonmoy Sadia's eldest son. Tonmoy and Sadia finally got to see their grandson's face. Now they are grandparents. Tonmoy was one of the most influential lawyers in the country and has now retired with me at the same time. Tonmoy was the chief counsel in the case under Section 377 of the Constitution to eradicate the rule.

Now let's talk about that back. Who killed Sara? I still can't believe it. So before I think about that, I want to remember some good memories. For example, the chances of me to get married. After successfully concluding the case, ACP Tanvir proposed me to marry him after making the culprit stand on the hedge of court. But I rejected that proposal on spot. I still love Neha and remember her almost every day. Achieving so much in my life and moving forward, Neha was the inspiration for all this. I'm not married yet. I want to be alone like this in the last moments of my life. Then the day I give up my last breath I will be able to go to Neha forever. So these days I am living with this hope. Even after ACP Tanvir, I got many marriage proposals. I also get a lot of relationship offers from several female colleagues who work with me. But I reject everyone. Because I'm not alone. In my imagination Neha is still alive and she is with me. We've been together for so many years and now we're old. Neha is always by my side. And always will be.

After hearing me at the restaurant that day, ACP Tanvir went to Rokhsana mam's house to interrogate her. But Rokhsana mam was not at home that day. He found out by questioning the neighbors that last 4 days ago at night, Rokhsana ma'am was pulling a big sack with her son in the car. Many people in the house next door saw the incident.

Meanwhile, Rokhsana ma'am was ready to leave the country. She will leave for America for 2 years. She was waiting at the airport. At that time, a group of officers came from the customs and immediately arrested Rokhsana ma'am and her son Aditto. They were later handed over to the CID.

During their 7-day remand in jail, the cops got to learn that Ms. Rokhsana  strangled Sara to death after she and her son made her signed all the property shares on the stamp paper to their names. On the contrary, she promised Sara that if all the properties were written in their names, Rokhsana ma'am would fight Sara's case and release Sara from the impression of the main accused in Neha's murder. It was pathetically sarcastic to see when law makers become law breakers. After getting all the property and withdrawing money from the bank, Rokhsana ma'am was planning to fly abroad with her son. Not only that, Rokhsana ma'am also indirectly assisted Sara in killing Neha. The night when Sara was looking for aspirin, she saw it from behind the door. Then she Leave it on her bedside table before leaving for the office in the morning. She asked her son to buy those high dose aspirin illegally from the black market. So that it will get easier for Sara to find those out and carry out her scheme. She made this plan because she thought it was her golden chance to kill Sara and seize all the property. Because her previous plan did not work even if Sara was forced to marry her son so that she and his son could snatch all the properties and seize them. So she had no other choice but to choose the second path.

Two cases were filed in the name of Rokhsana mam and her son Aditto. 

One: The main accused in the murder. 

Two: Money laundering.

Rokhsana ma'am and her son were sentenced to life imprisonment for the second of the two cases.

Rokhsana ma'am was sentenced to death for the first case and her son was sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding and abetting her to murder. Exactly one year later, the death sentence was carried out.

                         ---THE END---

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A/N: END OF STORY GUYS. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING ME AND READING THIS MESS FOR THIS FAR. I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HAPPY I AM TODAY. I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR COMPLIMENTS. YOUR SUPPORTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INSPIRED ME TO FINISH THIS STORY. Hopefully y'all liked this chapter. If you like it then don't forget to leave a vote. Also please share this story with your friends. If you have any questions, confusion or confessions then comment down below. I will reply to them as much as possible. Thank you ❤️, have a nice day! And good bye. See y'all someday in my next book. Until then good bye!

- Melon Tea.😘