This Raksha Bandhan fell on two consecutive days. On the very first day, Arjun had already visited his younger sister's in-laws' house, tied the rakhi amid laughter and joy, and, on his way back, requested her in-laws to let her stay with him for a week. They had gladly agreed, knowing it would be Arjun's last leave for the year. At least she could spend a few peaceful days in her maternal home with her mother and brother.
Barely an hour had passed since they reached home when a call came for Arjun from his father-in-law.
"Son, it's a festival time. It would have been better if you had come home. You could have celebrated with our family and, sitting together, we could have removed whatever bitterness remains in this relationship. Let us forget the past and give this bond a fresh chance."
Shreya too spoke on the phone:
"When everyone is insisting so much, just come once. No matter what the relationship is like, we have to honour it."Arjun replied, taken aback, "What are you saying?
You know very well that both of us love someone else.
"Shreya's voice softened, almost pleading.
"We know that, but my family doesn't. They think we are happy together. Please, for the sake of the family, maintain appearances in front of them."For reasons he himself could not fully understand, Arjun could not refuse her. Though his heart was not in it, he gave his word that he would come.
He consoled himself with the thought that perhaps the ongoing dispute would finally end. He might succeed in making her family understand the truth. A quiet hope stirred within him: once they met, some conclusion would surely be reached, and he would be able to free himself from this unwanted marriage. After all, if they had once again accepted their daughter, they would also care for her happiness.This marriage had never been the choice of either the boy or the girl. It was the result of societal stubbornness and pressure.
Arjun was an Agniveer posted in Rajouri—a temporary soldier. During his previous leave, when he had returned home, his entire life had been shattered and turned into a prison forged by other people's decisions.
Shreya's heart too belonged elsewhere. Her eyes had once sparkled with lofty dreams for her lover, but fear of society had forced her into becoming the wife of an Agniveer—a fate she could never truly accept.Though she never displayed any particular warmth or affection towards Arjun, she also harboured no enmity. No one could hold a grudge against a boy as friendly and amiable as him.
At her in-laws' house, he was welcomed warmly—exactly the way a new son-in-law is received on his first visit. Their respectful hospitality won his heart. After a delicious meal, they served him rasgullas for dessert. Despite his protests, they lovingly fed him three of them with such warmth that he could not refuse.
A wave of affection and belonging washed over him. At that moment, it did not feel right to reveal the bitter truth of their relationship. Moreover, after eating so much, drowsiness had begun to overtake him. He kept yawning heavily. Seeing this, they prepared a room for him to rest. It was Shreya herself who escorted him to the room.
He had no idea what cruel script destiny had written for him the next morning.The same sweets he had eaten with joy that night would turn into the most bitter poison of his life. Soon after eating them, his eyes had grown heavy, his steps unsteady. Shreya had to support him all the way to the bed, where he collapsed into a deep, drugged sleep.
When he opened his eyes the next morning, darkness seemed to swallow the world. The courtyard reeked of burnt human flesh. Half-burnt ashes lay scattered everywhere. The acrid smell of smoke and charred bodies still hung heavy in the air.
Police stood before him, waiting for him to regain consciousness. The words that fell from their lips sent a chill through his soul:"Last night, in a drunken state, you riddled your wife and her lover with bullets. Then, to destroy all evidence, you tried to burn both bodies so that identification would become impossible."The completely charred remains in front of him, they said, were those of his wife, Shreya—the girl forced into marriage with him. The other half-burnt body was believed to be that of her male lover, whose identity the police were still confirming.
Arjun's scream echoed off the walls.
"No! I didn't do anything… I was unconscious myself!
Why would I kill them? This is a conspiracy!
They have trapped me!"The police officer replied coldly, "Why would these people frame you?
They have already lost their daughter; they are devastated. You were unhappy with this marriage. When you saw Shreya with her lover while drunk, you flew into a rage and shot them both.
"He kept pleading his innocence, swearing by God, but no one's heart melted. A false accusation was slapped on him. Under duress, they extracted a confession.
He was dragged to the police station, where he endured blows from lathis and a shower of abuses. Again and again they forced him to admit the crime:
"Yes, I did it…"Whenever he refused, they beat him mercilessly with batons. Finally, exhausted and broken, he was made to sign a false confession.
The truth behind the deaths of his wife and her lover would remain buried forever in that heap of ashes. Her in-laws stayed silent.
Every time those people had entered his life, they had turned it into hell. Society branded him "the wife-murderer." From that day onward, every single day of his life burned in the fire of humiliation and shame.
Sitting in his prison cell, Arjun would often whisper to the cold walls:
"What crime am I being punished for?"
"I am an honest citizen, a brave son of the country.
The borders of the nation once welcomed me with open arms, yet today society has rejected me so completely. My innocent eyes were witness to my own innocence, while the real culprits still roamed free.In the eyes of the country and the world, the life of an innocent Agniveer had been sacrificed at the altar of injustice."
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