Seven Deadly Sins: Lust

This is second in the series of stories based on Seven Deadly Sins. Read the one on Wrath here.

“Molice Station”

The headlines shrieked referring to the molestation of the five girl students inside the police station where they had gone to register their complaint about the molestation by some perverts while they were out partying on the New Years’ Eve Masquerade Party in their college campus.

The Indian culture brigade, including politicians known for their verbal diarrhea, had done their thorough analysis and was seen presenting their views on the news. “See, these girls are going against our Indian culture. First, they were wearing short clothes. Yes, sleeveless kurtis also come under short clothes category. Then they were eating chowmein. And then they were with boys. And they were out beyond midnight. All this is not Indian culture. This is the direct influence of western culture. And hence, they were molested. You see, they were provoking the boys. Lakshman ne mana kiya tha but Sita overstepped the line. Ravan had to have the last laugh. I don’t understand what sort of upbringing they have got from their parents. Their parents are to be blamed first and foremost.”

As the information trickled throughout the day, a media house claimed that a couple of these girls moonlighted as escorts. The protectors of the culture had received the Brahmastra. Soon, the identity of the all the girls was somehow leaked to the media and all of them were painted as involved in flesh trade. All the while the identity of the perpetrators was kept covert.

The college management tried to brush their hands off the matter and released an official statement which read as, ‘The college management has tried to ensure well being of its students always. We had issued Dos and Don’ts for the girls which they didn’t comply. It included wearing modest clothes, not talking to boys, no late nights and no party or celebrations. We have issued a show cause notice to all the girls and expect their reply by this Friday, failing which they will be rusticated. Till the inquiry is under process, all five of them are suspended from the college.’

***

Rohan tapped the Enter button and waited. As the seconds passed, he started thinking about his Ethical Hacking course and the freelance work he did by hacking the security systems of a few of the companies that consulted him. Compared to that, this was a walk in the park. His string of thoughts broke as he felt, his friend, Prithvi’s hand on his shoulder and he came into the present. Varun, the third in the group, pointed at the screen where the dialog box prompting for Username and Password had popped up. He typed 'admin' in both the places and pressed Enter. Voila! “When will these institutions learn to change the default username and passwords!”, he muttered under his breath.

Rohan had just hacked into the college CCTV footage. He was in his room with his friends Prithvi and Varun. A week of protest carried out by the students didn’t yield any desired result. Instead, a few more students were put under suspension. This fizzled out the protest as everyone was concerned about his or her future. This is when Rohan and his friends decided to take matters in their own hands and find the culprits on their own. He searched for footage of Common Room on December 31, 2016 in the archive. He found the video and brought the timebar to 11:30 PM. As they witnessed the appalling incident, their jaws tightened. Though the masks hid their identity, they followed their movement through the CCTV camera footage and ultimately came to know the identity of the men responsible.

The three friends made three copies of the footage and kept one each in their custody. Although it was a masquerade party, identifying the four culprits was not a problem. The gaudy clothes, oversized accessories and obese body were proof enough for them to understand that it was Mohit Ahuja, who was the son of one of the trustees, along with his three friends who were responsible for this despicable act. And then the matter dawned on the trio why the college management wanted to demonize the girls and not put proper pressure on the investigation into the matter.

When Varun was leaving with his copy of the footage, he looked at both of the roommates. None of them said anything, but if someone saw the faces of these three young men, they would have realized that something unsavory was about to be dished out to some people.

***

Over the next few days, the college witnessed bizarre events. These four guys passed out in a placement party given by one of their batch mates. When they woke up, they found that the word ‘Molester’ had been inked on their forearm. The Movie Club mistakenly sent out a mail for the screening of ‘Dial M for Molester’ instead of ‘Dial M for Murder’ which they corrected after three days.

The following week, when Deewar was being shown by the Movie Club, Amitabh said, ‘Jao pehle usko pakad ke lao jisne mere haath me likh diya ki main molester hoon…’. Mohit and group choked on the soft drink they were drinking. They quickly made their exit from the common room where the show was going on. Rohan and his friends gave a nod to each other. The edit they had done to the movie had worked just perfectly.

The next shock they experienced was in the first week of February. All the students were expected to turn in their project reports so that they can be evaluated and scored before the papers for finals went to be printed. Mohit and group were called by Professor Raman Singh. Prof. Singh bellowed at them, “Is this a joke? Who sends such mails? While the reports were barely okay, have you guys gone out of your mind! Every single one of you has signed your name in the mail prefixed by Molester. See you mail Mohit. “Regards, Molester Mohit” and it is the same with every one of you. Pathetic!” The group checked their phones and saw that at least three of the faculties had received such mails. It took them a while to realize that someone had messed with their iPhones and changed Mohit as Molester Mohit in the Autocorrect options in Mohit’s phone and then did the same with others’ phones as well. They were sure that someone was after their lives.

However, there concern was unfounded. The next three weeks went without any incident. They assumed that the prankster was bored and left them to their lives. They started behaving normally. They also got their tattoo covered by another one. Abbas, one of them also had his arm go septic after the cover up inkwork due to a reaction, which took some time to heal.

A month before finals, at February end, the college was hosting its three day fest. A lot of students of local and even outstation colleges came there for the competitions, interactions or just to have fun. The number of young people which was usually a thousand and half normally swelled to more than six thousands as the fest progressed. Everything went smoothly for two and a half days. The last evening was usually reserved for DJ Night. A large screen was erected behind the DJ’s console on which the laser lights made extraordinary designs perfectly completing the crescendos and troughs in the music. Fearing the events of the last time, the girls had been specifically asked to keep distance from where the boys were dancing. Faculty members were there to ensure that no untoward incident may mar the image which had already taken a hit with the New Year’s Eve incident. As the night neared its peak, the DJ suddenly stopped the music and spoke into the megaphone. “Guys and gals, this is not only the night which ends this fest; this is also the last time the senior batch is there together. All of them. So, I believe it is the perfect time to remind them of the unforgettable time they had in this institution for the last five years. So here is the movie which I hope every one of them will remember all their lives. Hold your breath fellas…”

Entire audience fell into silence as the lights were dimmed. The screen behind the DJ started showing the movie starting with everyone’s introduction, to the best friends which resulted in the groups shown hugging each other, to the couples which evoked some ‘Awws’ and catcalls. Everyone got their share of the limelight. The emotion ran high as the video progressed to the section where videos of parties they had were playing. Suddenly the color scheme changed to gray-scale and the clarity was marred with grains. The onlookers realized that it was the CCTV footage from that fateful day. The face of the girls had been pixelated. However, everyone who was watching realized who the molesters were. And this was the time when suddenly the spotlight shone on the group of four guys. The horror on the face of Mohit and group was quite visible. The faculty and administration members who had tried their best to hush up this matter rushed to the stage and stopped the video and screamed on the megaphone and asked the students to stay calm.

But as one knows from experience, a mob doesn’t speak, a mob doesn’t listens; it only does. And when it was done with the culprits, there was nothing much left to do. They had to stay in the hospital for recovery. They were suspended from the college. Mr. Ahuja, the trustee was made to leave his position. The sin of lust had followed them home. Their image in the society had taken a blow. Every single of them had to change their college, their city to escape the constant judging gaze they were followed with everywhere. However, the shame they felt was nothing compared to the crime they were guilty of.