December 12th 2010 23:49 Hrs:

Tarun and Aravind were walking inside.

“Aravind. What happened?”

“Tarun… Rachana is dead.”

“What?”

“Yes Tarun. She removed oxygen mask herself. Doctors were in rounds and so asked us not to disturb her. We were waiting outside and suddenly we heard the beep sound. By the time we went inside, she was found dead.”

“How did this happen Aravind? There is no doctor or nurse monitoring her?”

“A nurse was there, but, as another emergency burning case came, she rushed to attend that. And in between this happened.”

Tarun remained silent without uttering any words.

“Tarun… Tarun…”

“Ya. Aravind. I am fine. Let me go inside and see her.”

“Okay Tarun.”

As Tarun was walking inside, Sneha saw him coming, ran towards him and hugged him with pain.

“Sneha. Sneha.”

Sneha was not responding to him and was weeping loud.

“Sneha. I do not know what to talk to you and how to console you. I became helpless now. I am feeling shame to put this uniform on which failed to save one girl.”

Sneha was still weeping out loud and was not at all responding to Tarun’s words. Meanwhile, one among the other officers stepped inside.

December 13th 2010 00:03 Hrs:

“Tarun sir, Media people are questioning a lot. There are asking about you. Can you please come and address them.”

“Okay. I am coming. Just give me 2 mins. I will first speak with the doctor and then I will address their queries.”

“Okay Sir.”

“Sneha, control. Right now my only concentration is on how to punish them so that there will not be any other such incidents.”

As Sneha was not leaving Tarun, Aravind came near and took her away from Tarun.

“Doctor. Can we talk for 2 minutes.” – Tarun

“Yes sir.”

“Can you please brief me how did this happen?”

“Actually…”

“No, not to me. Directly in-front of the media can you explain. I want things to be transparent and true to the world.”

“Sure Tarun sir.”

00:05 Hrs:

“Sir. How did this happen?” – Media 1

“There is no one in the room to safe guard her?” – Media 2

“Hospital staff and the police staff both of them failed to provide security to her and save her life?” – Media 3

“Whom to be blamed now? The police for failing to provide security outside or the hospital staff who failed to save her inside?” – Media 4

“Hold on. Hold on. I guess the media should think of the current situation for a while before shooting questions continuously. Before I answer all your questions, doctor will explain what exactly happened.”

“By the time, she was bought into the hospital; she was badly hurt with only 10 to 15% chances of survival. We tried our best to save her. And also she was completely down psychologically and ran into depression. We used the oxygen mask at high rates to make sure that her heart keeps pumping and that she won’t run into coma.”

“If you have taken this much precautions, how did this happen?” – Media

“Hold on. Let the doctor complete briefing. Then you can start questioning.” – Tarun

“As every 4 hours, I along with other doctors go for rounds. And the same way, I went for rounds by making sure one of our nurses is with her. We requested all others to stay outside the room as the ICU is completely electronic equipment and any radiation from mobiles or from the body of the people may lead to malfunctioning. And all of a sudden, we have received an emergency fire case. To address that, the nurse who is with her stepped out. I guess I don’t need to explain you how much depression the patients will be in these kinds of cases, she observed there is no one inside the room and removed the oxygen mask. Immediately in the next 5 seconds, her heart stopped pumping due to lack of oxygen supply. By the time we went inside on hearing the heart monitor beep sound, she was dead.”

“Doctor. So, this is purely due to negligence of hospital staff?” – Media

“Listen. These kinds of things are unpredictable and uncontrollable. We did the best we can from the morning and at the end no one expects that she will do like this.” –Doctor

“In these kinds of cases, women are more sensitive. So, is it not your responsibility to make sure someone is always there with her?” – Media

“Hey, listen, listen. Let the doctor go. I will address your next questions. Thank you doctor you may go now.”

00:27 Hrs:

“Why are you sending away the doctor? Are you trying to hide something?”

“Please don’t talk whatever you feel. 2 minutes back you were asking like why there is no one at the patients and now you are asking why did I send the doctor? Don’t you feel that there is a logical connection between these two?”

“Sir. We lost a girl now forever. And what’s your next move on this? Did you manage to catch the other four?”

“Look. I personally know this girl from over a year. I feel ashamed that not only me, but also my uniform failed in saving her. And now when things came in our hands also we failed to save her. Now our next move is to catch hold of those criminals and bring them to justice.”

“Sir. With our judiciary system, do you really think the justice will be instant for those criminals?”

“Yes, I understand. But, there are some things which are not in our control and we can never change them.”

“Sir. Don’t you think that because of the delay in justice, these kinds of criminals are not afraid of our system and hence there is a high increase in these kinds of cases? What do you think is the best way to stop these kinds of things?”

“If a criminal who is caught is punished at right time, the next one thinks at least for a second before committing the crime.”

“How do you want to make it sir?”

“I don’t have answers for all your questions. Now let us end this here. We have got lot of formalities to be completed. Thank you all.”

00:39 Hrs:

“Aravind. You and Sneha go and stay at Rachana’s house. I will come there in the morning after we finish all the formalities.”

“No Tarun. We will come with you.” – Sneha

“Sneha. It’s already midnight. Its better you both leave this place.”

“No Tarun. We are coming with you.

“Tarun. That’s okay. We will be with you till all the formalities are completed.”

“Okay. Sneha, we informed her parents. They will be here by morning.”

06:39 Hrs:

(After 6 hours)

Tarun finished all the formalities and made arrangements for her funeral.

06:41 Hrs:

Amrutha woke up suddenly from the bed. She was sweating completely.

“Tarun… Tarun…”

She started searching the rooms and then realized that he is not in. when she was moving to the living room, she heard a noise and stepped out of the house. It was the sound of newspaper. She took the newspaper, bought it inside and kept it on the table.

After placing it on the table, she was just walking few steps away and then suddenly looks at the headlines.

“Teenage girl gang r***d at the city outskirts and the girl commited suicide by removing the oxygen mask.” – The Hindu

She immediately picks up her and calls Tarun.

06:52 Hrs:

“Tarun… Tarun… Amrutha is calling you.”

“Hey Sneha. Don’t answer the call. Pass it on here.”

“Hello Amrutha.”

“Hey Tarun. Where are you? When are you coming home?”

“What happened Amrutha?”

“Tarun. Come back soon.”

“What happened Amrutha?”

“Tarun. I had a very bad dream. And then when I look at the newspaper, I see the same kind of news as headlines. I feel much tensed Tarun. Please come soon.”

“Amrutha. Please don’t worry. I am coming right now. Give me 15 mins and I will be there.”

Tarun disconnected the call.

“For this person, if duty is there, he will forget everything.” – Amrutha.

Amrutha picks Tarun’s file which he left the last night and takes it inside to put it on Tarun’s desk. When she tries to place it on the table, one pic from the file falls down.

“Oh.”

07:32 Hrs:

“Sir. Rachana’s parents reached. We have to get signatures on those papers.”

“Okay. The file is in the jeep. Get it.”

“Okay sir.”

07:33 Hrs:

“Sir. File is not here.”

“Check it in the dash board.”

“No Sir. I checked. It’s not here.”

07:34 Hrs:

“Oh shit. Damn.”

“What happened Tarun?” – Sneha

“I left Rachana’s file at home.”

“What file?”

“It has Rachana’s pictures at the spot. What if Amrutha finds it?”

“I have to move now. I will be back soon.”

“Tarun. Let me come with you.” – Aravind.

“No Aravind. You stay with Sneha. I will be back soon.”

“That’s okay Tarun. I will be here with Rachana’s parents. You both go.”

07:39 Hrs:

Tarun stopped the car outside and asked Aravind to stay inside the car. He reached the door and unlocked it. The moment he stepped inside, he found the newspaper pieces lying on the ground.

“Amrutha. Amrutha. Where are you?”

He crossed the living room and reached Amrutha’s bed room.

“Amrutha. Amrutha…”

After searching all the rooms, he stepped into his room and was shocked to see Amrutha.

“Amruthaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

On hearing Tarun’s voice, Aravind went running inside.

“Oh My God!”

¿¿¿: What happend to Amrutha

#Suicide