Self Defence ***

Malar wiped her brow. At last the chores were done. She was exhausted. The baby was due in 6 weeks. She felt the bulge of her tummy. And he kicked just at that moment. Malar smiled wistfully. As she turned, she stiffened. A movement behind the dining room partition. Her heart beating furiously, she moved cautiously to the kitchen door. And in a lightning movement he pounced. He gagged her with the thick cloth, grabbing her hands behind her back. She couldn't breathe. Her heart thundered.

***

He was stripping her. Malar reacted with horror. Her screams were muffled and totally inaudible. Tears streamed from her eyes. Oh God! The baby! She had to protect the baby. The man was unrelenting. He held her hands behind her back and tore away her clothing. A crazed look in his eyes terrified Malar. She was going to die. Her baby was going to die. She screamed again. She struggled to breathe. And then she passed out.

***

As she came to, the realization dawned that she was a prisoner. She could hear the man ransacking the rooms. He was a young Indian boy. Couldn't be more than 25. Malar was bound and gagged with the cloth torn from her bedsheet. She was clad only in her underwear. Her torn clothes lay strewn all over the floor. A piece of her blouse hung from her arm. She wriggled her wrists and feet. Soon she felt an unbelievable relief. Her hands were free! He had done a sloppy job. Swiftly she freed her feet. He heart was pounding madly. And then she saw the parang and wrench which he had brought. It was on the bedside table. She moved silently, grabbing the parang.

Just then he entered, carrying a heavy suitcase which he had packed with the valuables which he had looted. A stunned look came over his face as she appeared, swinging the parang viciously. The blow cut across his neck. The blood spouted, spraying her as he fell, stumbling on the suitcase. She rained blows on him with the parang, slashing his back and arms into shreds. And then she stopped. She paused a moment. As she watched, he moved and groaned. Malar ran to the bedside and grabbing the wrench, brought it down on his head, crushing it in a gory mash of blood, flesh, hair and brains. And then, overcome by it all, she collapsed.

***

The judge looked at Malar, standing forlorn in the dock. She held her baby cradled in her arm. Sekaran stood beside her, holding her hand.
“From the evidence before me, I find that you have taken a human life, in a brutally cold blooded and vicious manner. While we accept that the victim was an intruder who had tried to attack you, and you had acted in self defence, such degree of violence was uncalled for. The deceased was a young man in his twenties, and his whole life was taken away from him, because of your actions.
I sentence you, Malar Govindasamy to 5 years in jail. And for abetting you and hiding the evidence, I sentence you, Sekaran Vivekanandan to 2 years jail. Court dismissed.”

***

Hamzah sat on his porch alone, smoking his pipe. He loved the solitude. Dusk was falling. Hamzah looked out at the sky over the trees. And then he heard it again. Unmistakable this time. The soft whine of a dog. He peered into the darkness. The rose bushes of his sprawling garden were thick, but he could make out a stealthy movement beyond the shadows. He silently slipped into the living room and returned with his pump gun. He moved silently circling the bushes. And then he saw him. A dark figure, crouching behind the rose bushes. He could see Tiger, his dog lying nearby. Hamzah trembled with anger. He had poisoned his beloved Tiger. Hamzah raised the pump gun and let loose several volleys. There was a scream. The boy fell into the bushes and lay lifeless.

Hamzah ran over. He shone his torch on the boy. He was a teenage Indian boy. A small cloth bag lay beside him. Hamzah saw several pairs of his shoes in the bag and nearby. And then a whine. Hamzah played the flashlight in the direction of the sound. Tiger was standing, a little wobbly and unsteady, but alive!

Just then Lini ran up. "Papa, are you ok? What happened?"
"Its ok. I caught him in time. He had drugged Tiger and was trying to get away with our shoes. I shot him."
Lini looked at the fresh faced young man, lying lifeless among the bushes, the stolen shoes strewn beside him.
"Papa, will you get into trouble?"
"No, I wont. It was a clear case of self defence." Judge Hamzah was dialling the police.