Sitting in the courtroom, Annika nervously played with the hem of her scarf.

Mrs. Lilly Khanna, An Indo-European lady, wife of Shivaay's personal bodyguard and a lawyer who worked under Shivaay walked to Annika.

Lilly- Don't worry Annika, Sir will be here in sometime.

She said in her British accent.

Annika- Ho-pe so.

Lilly- I called him but his phone is switch of and Khanna ji isn't picking up the calls too. They must be in flight.

Sanjana- The judge will arrive in 15 minutes and they are still in flight.

Lilly- I'll request to delay the hearing Sanjana Ma'am but i can't guarantee.

Annika- Well, let's just hope for the best.

---------

"Case number 143 Annika Sharma's Rape case."

Judge- Start with the court proceedings.

Lilly stood up to say something but Alok interrupted her.

Alok- Sadly we can't Your honour. The opposition's lawyer is still not here.

Lilly- I'm sorry Your honour. Mr. Oberoi is on the way, I request you to postpone the hearing.

Alok- As i told you your honour, Mr. Oberoi is a highly unprofessional person, today is the final hearing and he is not here. No evidence or witness.  I would suggest you to dismiss the case right away.

Lilly- Sir i request you please, he was stuck somewhere and is on the way. Please sir.

Judge- Okay! The court will wait for Mr. Oberoi.

Alok- But sir, this is not fair.

Judge- You don't teach me my work, Bajaj!

Alok sat down muttering a sorry.

Annika's anxiety was increasing by each passing second. Her mind started playing the scenes of that day, when she confessed it all to Shivaay.

Flashback~

Shivaay- I still love you Nini.

Annika- I lo-ve you t-oo Shivaay.

Shivaay- Don't worry, okay?

Annika- I'll not.

Shivaay- You know we'll get married after this case and I'll never let go again.

He said excitedly and looked at her to find already sleeping. Little did he know she is acting!

Flashback over~

Alok- Your honour we have been waiting for 25 minutes now. Mr. Oberoi is clearly wasting the time of court.

Alok's loud voice pulled Annika out of her thoughts.

Lilly- I'm sorry Your honour. Please some more time.

Judge- If Mr. Oberoi will not arrive in next 5 minutes then the court will pass it's judgement.

Alok passed Lilly an egoistic smile.

Shivaay- Sorry for the delay Your honour.

Annika's face broke into a smile when she heard his voice but her eyes widened when she looked at him. He was looking like a 5 years old kid who just came back from school, his shirt half in-half out, his hair disheveled.

He walked towards them and she noticed blood behind ear.

Annika- Oh my god Shivaay! Your head is bleeding.

She said standing up. 

Shivaay- That's nothing Annika. Sit down please.

Judge- Mr. Oberoi are you okay? What happened to you?

Shivaay- My car met with a little accident Your honour but I'm okay.

Judge- Okay, start with the court proceedings.

Shivaay- Not wasting much time, i want your permission for showing a clip.

Judge- Permission granted.

Shivaay played a clip which wasn't real clear but the Judge can see a manly figure hovering a woman and woman shouting for help.

The voice of that video was very clear.

Woman- Leave me Riansh, you can't do this to me. Leave me, i beg you please leave me. I'm your wife.

Man- Yes bitch you are my wife and that's why i can do whatever i want. Just shut up.

Annika's breathing got heavy when she heard her pleads and Riansh's face turned pale.

Shivaay- Your honour as the clip clearly shows, a man is assaulting a woman sexually.

Alok- But the faces are not clear.

Shivaay- But the voice is! If you want i can call the voice experts who will confirm that the male voice in this clip is of Riansh Khanna and female voice's owner is Annika Sharma.

Judge- Call the voice expert.

Shivaay- Sure sir.

After sometime the voice artist also confirms that this voice is of Riansh Khanna and Annika Sharma.

Judge- That's all?

Shivaay- It's more than enough to prove Riansh Khanna guilty Your honour but i want you permission to call someone in the witness box.

Alok- You can't call anyone without former notice.

Shivaay- You need to give attention to the court Mr. Bajaj, I've already given former notice to Your honour.

Judge- Yes, call them in witness box.

Two ladies walked in the court room, one was walking with the help of crutches and the other lady walked with three baby girls on her side.

Riansh and His family's face was now blue, it's like they can't breath anymore.

Shivaay- This is Shanti Khurana, Riansh's Khanna's first wife who was infertile and unable to give birth.

He said pointing at the physically challenged one.

Shivaay- Shanti ji, please tell the court, what this monster did with you.

Shanti- I was 18 when i got married to Riansh, he was 19 that time. We tried alot but i was not able to get pregnant. It was my 20th birthday when we found out that i can never be a mother and h-he raped me in anger.

Shanti wiped her tears.

Shanti- The next day i woke up, he asked me to go to my parents house as I'm infertile and i can't give birth to his child. I refused to do so and he--

Shivaay- He what? Be strong Shanti ji, I'm with you.

Shanti- He cut my leg with axe.

Alok looked down in shame, Riansh is literally a monster.

Shanti- I was illiterate, i thought there's no use of fighting so i went back to my parents home. I wish i was as strong as Annika to fight back his tortures.

Shivaay- Shanti have filed a case against Riansh Khanna too.

Judge nodded writing down something in his register.

Shivaay- This second lady is Divyanka Sodhi. She was Riansh Khanna's second wife.

Divyanka also started her story, how she gave birth to a girl child and was tortured by Riansh's family.

Divyanka- My second child was also a girl and i was punished for it. He used to burn my body with cigarettes and acid. I wasn't ready for third child but he forcefully had se* with me and when i gave birth to another baby girl i was kicked out of the house with my three kids. I belonged to a middle class family and i know my parents won't be able to bear the lawyer's expenses and all so i decided to stay quite. I was a stupid. I should have filed a case.

Shivaay- Your honour this man Riansh Khanna doesn't know how to take a NO as NO. He assaulted Shanti ji because she was infertile, he assaulted Divyanka because she gave birth to girl child, he assaulted Annika because she said NO for sex. He ruined three lives and he should be punished for that. Also, before you pass your judgement i want to say something.

Judge nodded allowing him to speak.

Shivaay- Men should stop thinking that now they are married to the girl, they can rape her without any consequences. A rape is a rape, no matter if it's done my your own husband. In our country, Marriage can be called as a license to rape.

It's not just about Husband-wife, In our country a sex worker can't file a case against rape because that's her work right? She gets paid for it. But that's not the truth, she gets paid for submitting herself to someone but if she says No then it's a no.

Men should start respecting consent.

That's all your honour.

Judge- You want to say something Mr. Bajaj.

Alok- No sir.

After few moments~

Judge- After hearing all your pleas and arguments, the court is ready with it's judgement.

Annika crossed her fingers, closing her eyes tightly.

Judge- Mr. Riansh Khanna is punished with life time imprisonment for sexually assaulting three women and attempt to murder on Shanti ji. Also, he is fined for trying to demolish Mr. Oberoi's image. He'll give compensation amount of Rs. 10 lakh to Shanti, Divyanka and Annika for mentally abusing them and 50,000 Rs. to Mr. Oberoi.

Annika's tears ran down when she heard the Judge say this.

Annika- I want to say something, if you permit.

Judge- Permission granted.

Annika- Thank you your honour for giving us chances to prove Riansh Khanna wrong. I want to say that we often hear things like girls who are poor or illiterate gets often raped, That's not true. I'm a London return student and i was raped. Some say girls who drink or wear revealing clothes are often raped, well that's not true either. I wear clothes that cover me properly and never drink but i was raped. These things are baseless. Rape can happen to anyone, we should not relate it with such petty things like what clothes she wore or what degrees she held.

And about marital rapes, men who force their wives into having sex are committing rape, period. The laws are blurry, if they don't consider it as a crime.

Judge- Thank you for keeping faith in our law. Case dismissed!

Annika hugged Shivaay happily, tears flowing down her eyes.

-------

Story Khatam!

Thank-you for all the love on this story besties ❤️

P.S.- I'm kidding besties 🤣
Though the court scenes and case is over, we still want to see ShivIka's future no?

Love ❤️
~N 🥀