My day in Court

On March 11, 2010 I went in front of the Judge of First Magistrate Court in Varkala and my lawyer presented the list of accusations against Balakrishna Bhat:

Domestic violence

Cheating

Criminal Breach of trust

My lawyer had to convince the judge that, though we were not legally married, we had lived in the same house as a married couple since 2004 and what Bala had done was clearly against the Domestic Violence Protection Act. Big rumble in the court; no foreigner had ever done this before. In fact, no foreigner had ever showed up in the Varkala Court.  

The judge issued an Order of Protection, which stated that I had the right to reside in my home, and Bala could not disturb my peaceful existence. Armed with this order, we went to the local police station where an FIR (First Information Report) was filed against Bala. Escorted by police and the lawyers, I went back to Asthamay were Bala was enjoying the afternoon. They presented to him the order. Bala was only slightly upset. His attitude has always been that he can buy all the help he needs. And so he did.

In the months that followed this first victory there was a series of ups and downs. For five months I lived a real court drama, with very low times for me and then other moments where I felt that maybe I had a chance to see this through. A seesaw of actions and reactions, revenges and threats, small victories and desperate moments. I ate very little and smoked a lot of cigarettes, I slept very poorly and never felt safe. I was alone fighting a huge battle and had very little help.

The wound in my hand had become infected; three of those five stitches were looking very bad and I had to get intravenous antibiotics. That was really no fun.

Bala had moved out of Asthamay, but he did not go far. Certainly, never far enough for me.

He needed to hide from the police or get anticipatory bail from the court.

And so he did. The Trivandrum court denied him anticipatory bail. That mean that the police could have detained him for interrogation.  The police had no such intention. Bala disappeared again. After a few weeks he went to the High Court in Kochi with the same request. The judge granted him an interim bail during the court’s summer recession. Bala came back.

Bala acted as a bully, which is his trade mark. He’d come at Asthamay, shout threats at me, and threaten the staff, sit nearby and stare, laugh, trying to intimidate the potential witness and my neighbors.

Then again, when the court returned in session, Bala applied for anticipatory bail and again it was denied. Bala disappeared, but came by occasionally just to keep the level of tension high enough. 

By then it was clear to me that the local police would never start an investigation on the accusations that I had made against Bala. The local police were his friends and had enjoyed for years his generous payments. Yet again, I was alone and felt like a target.

But sometimes even in the worst moments something positive happens. Maybe it was survival instinct, or simply I could not believe what was going on. And so I decided to react. I did what Indian people do when they get no results from the regular channels. I talked to the press.

My lawyer called a journalist of the biggest local newspaper, Malayalam Manorama, and I told him my story. He took photos and the next day I was all over the press. Then other journalists came to get the news of the foreigner “cheated by a rickshaw driver”. More press and more photos. Then TV interview. I had become a celebrity. I realized that everyone knew my story. People on the train recognized me and they offered their sympathy. The positive result was my story was out and everyone could read, including Bala, his family, his neighbors, everyone.

But it was not enough.

Bala, his father and a local friend after they broke into my house

One day that I was not home, Bala with the help of two local guys broke the door of my house and moved in with his family. Now the Bhats, all five of them lived in my house. I rushed back. I called the police, asking them to enforce the Protection that the court granted me. They told me it was not their business. I returned to Asthamay and Bala his family locked the door. Bala was laughing. He staged a scene inside the house. He broke chairs and threw dishes around, trying to implicate me in some sort of violent act. But I was outside the door, locked out.

I had only one more thing to try: go to the politicians.