This particular incident happened around 5 years back. The Rajasthan police had arrested 3 young girls and 4 men from a hotel in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), during a hotel raid. The arrested men were suspected to be flesh traders. During initial interrogation, the police couldnt conclusively arrive at a decision, due to a big hurdle.
The hurdle was that the girls were from other state and didnt understand either hindi or english. Finally the Inspector of the police station decided to approach the nearest Air Force unit, from where some interpreter's help could be sought. The girls said they were from karnataka, thats the only thing the police could make out. It was a clear case of young girls supplied to northern states.
Around 10am in the morning the Police Inspector approached the Air Force authorities and asked the help of a soldier who can understand & speak Kannada well. The Air Force authorities started enquiring and found out that I managed to speak all South Indian languages. They requested me to assist the Rajasthan police in arriving at the truth by questioning the girls who were in custody at the Police Station nearby. I readily agreed, as these kind of opportunities hardly knock one's door often.
Once i reached the Police station in their jeep, i found 7 harried faces altogether. They wondered who this knew person was. The police wanted me to translate their questions to kannada and also translate back the girls' answer back to them in hindi. I summarily rejected the idea and requested the inspector to allow me to have an informal conversation with girls in custody. He was kind enough and allowed me a free hand.
From my talk with the girls, it was found that they were all from Bellary, a northern district in Karnataka. They belonged to the Jain Community, and were the newly wedded wives of 3 men respectively, among the 4 in custody. I took much info from the girls, and when satisfied, asked the guys to be brought in,to cross-check with them in the absence of the girls. The entire exercise with the men took hardly 10 mins. Things fell into place splendidly.
The elderly among the men owned a provision store in a village in Bellary, where the girls belonged. In Rajasthan there is a terribly skewed sex ratio among the jains. In their quest for brides, the men there are ready to pay money to the girl's parents as long as the girl was a jain. Their Jain community member who had a shop in Bellary, came handy. The girls' families were quite poor and they took approximately 30,000 rupees fromt these 3 men and gave away their girls as bride. The brides themselves were happy, the guys were happpy as they got a bride, and the middle man was happy because for every girl he provided he pocked 10,000 rupees from the groom.
The final nail in the case was struck when i asked the girls if they wanted to go back to their homes and they all said in unison that they wanted to go with these guys (Their husbands) and live peacefully. The police readily agreed to their demands and all the 7 of them were left free. A happy ending in the end.
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2 comments:
Hi Joshi,
This incident reveals how essential a language can be in saving the grace of peoples lives.Just imagine if the police had misinterpreted the whole incident all their lives would have been ruined.Its good that u stepped out in the "need of the hour" instead of backing out.
Mehr
Hi Joshi, I was away on a vacation and today I have a handful to read. Good going buddy, you do have lots of stories to share. Hey, I am sure, one day you can write a book. Memories of a Soldier, you can also give some royalty for the title and idea :)
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