The privileged and powerful world of mass media is besieged by certain curses. The incompetent people suffer the wrath of their bosses. The competent ones are haunted by enemies they make in exposing different scams. The later is true especially about crime reporters.
Crime is a quicksand that only pulls you in once you step into it. I got entangled into this mess due to a chick-the one who has always put me in trouble, the one who is invisible and elusive like that Charlie character in Charlie’s angles movie. Her name haunts my mind like ghosts haunting a spooky castle
Natasha.
Once, she promised to meet me and did not show up. The second time, she appeared and vanished before I could think of what to say. Annoyed by her unstable nature, I decided to capture her elusive character in a character sketch. This shrewd and witty character would be a composite personality derived from the two most dangerous professions on earth- journalism and law. Natasha would be a character with the profession of a journalist and qualifications of a lawyer.
The topic was finalized. Time for research.
I decided to follow some hot court cases and approached the editor of our great news channel. “We have some reporters already deputed to some sensitive cases.” said the boss. “But you can follow a corporate rivalry case between two health care companies over who runs this district hospital”
Not a bad start. It was a light case. Two companies, Shalby group of hospitals and Radiant Life Care Ltd. were fighting over who gets to run the district hospital in public private partnership with the government. The government had issued the letter of intent to Radiant which had asked about Rs. 1.97 crore per year to run the hospital and refused to consider the tender submitted by Shelby on the ground that it did not adhere to the prescribed format. Shalby had offered to run the hospital for free (In the end, the court directed the government to consider the existing offers afresh and to set aside the letter of intent issued to Radiant.). I dug up the background of the whole case, went up and talked to the lawyers of both companies to observe the way lawyers behave, noted the gist of their arguments and filed a report.
The problem was that it impressed my superiors. “You’re pretty good at this man” they said. “Take one more case” Now, I was staring down at document relating to the famous Medium of Instruction case. Fuming in rage, I set off towards the high court.
Ending a privilege only allowed to indigenous languages, the government had decided to release grants to English medium schools in the state. The conservatives rose up in agitation and filed a petition to reverse the government decision. The petitioner argued that the decision did not follow mandated procedure. There was no academic authority under RTE act 2009 or an advisory board under (Goa state education act) appointed by the government to implement this decision. The circular drawn up by the government with regard to the decision was being styled as the order of the government. If it was so, the circular was not drawn up in the name of the governor.
“Superb case man.” I whispered to a cherubic bald man beside me. “Petitioner rocks!”
“You support the petitioner?” he threw me a questioning glance. “Of course I do! Cant you see, the government is screwed unless it somehow changes its circular to adhere to the procedures.” I replied. “Ah. Excuse me please...” the guy rose and went up to the Advocate General. After an exchange of ideas, he came and resumed his seat beside me.
“I would like to seek seven days time to amend the circular my lord!” exclaimed the advocate general to my horror. The guy beside me was smiling. “You saved my case.” He whispered. “Pity you let down your own side.”
The court granted time to the government to amend the circular.
The petitioner came up behind me. “Did you just tell the deputy director for education to amend the circular?”
“He was the Deputy Director for education?”
“You just ruined my case boy. I will have you on that.” Holy cow! Both my reputation and my enemies were multiplying.
“Awesome story” exclaimed the editor when I submitted the report. “One more case” This time it was a hearing on a powerful politician’s bail application on charges of illegal mining.
I was being sucked deeper into the world crime and court cases with every passing day. My name was now listed in the police records as crime reporter and the police department was making various attractive offers. “Would you like to accompany us in a drug depot raid?” “Would you like to have an interview with Maoists we caught?” “Can you help us track down the inmates that ran away an hour ago?”My colleagues had put up a board outside my cubicle reading ‘Jay Joshi: Crime Reporter.’
My peaceful life had been turned upside down. I had entered a world I never wanted to be a part of. Arrests, raids, murders, scams, I did not wish to report this. And yet, they thought I was a natural at it.
Why did I end up here again?
Natasha.
Once, that girl had me stuck alone in Tirakol fort, once I waited for her in Kala Academy so long that security got suspicious and threw me out. Now, I was stuck in the dark world of crime. “by God I will make that girl pay” I swore under my breath. Just then my phone beeped. A message from Natasha
“You do a story on me
And I will knock out your tooth
Proceed further despite this warning
And you face a defamation suit”
I sighed and dialed a number. “I need a lawyer…” I hissed.
(Events and characters in this story are completely fictional.)
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