” Hello, I am calling from Star insurance company, your insurance amount for this month is due, when shall we expect the payment?” Hari asked in his monotone voice.
On the other end Shanti tried to comprehend what just happened , she had never received any calls on this phone, yet her exhausted mind hatched a plan. ” I can’t make online payment, can you come home and collect the due amount.” she requested.
Shanti gave him her address and asked him to come between ten to one o’ clock in the morning.”
” Definitely ma’am, ” Hari was bewildered at the unusual request.
The next day around eleven o’clock clock Hari reached the address given by the lady. As he was about to ring the bell
a window opened and a frail and feeble looking lady called for him , ” Beta, please wait.”
” Are you Mrs Neeta Verma?”, he asked surprised.
” No beta, my name is Shanti, it was a wrong number I received yesterday but perfectly right for me. I am a prisoner in my own house ”
Between her sobs Shanti narrated her story to Hari, after her husband’s demise her son Neeraj asked her to transfer all the money and property to his name.
Thinking it all belonged to him naturally Shanti complied . Since then she had seen the worst days of her life, she had to do all the household chores and was always given the leftovers. When she was late in cooking or cleaning she was even thrashed by her son and daughter in law. She had an old Nokia phone whose number only her daughter in law had and used to call her from her work to instruct about the chores. It was on that number Hari had given a call by mistake.
Hari knew Shanti was not lying as the bruises on her face and body told her story. He readily agreed to help her.
The next day Hari was there at exactly the same time and handed Shanti what she had asked him to bring.
A few days later in the morning there was a knock on the door, it was Neeraj, Shanti’s son who answered the door. He was surprised to see a police officer standing in front of him.
” You are arrested for physical assault and mental torture to your mother, ” the officer inform him.
” What are you saying officer, there must be some misunderstanding,” he stammered.
” No!!, there is no misunderstanding, ” he showed him a video where Neeraj and his wife were physically assaulting Shanti with slippers and belts. Neeraj was flabbergasted , at the visuals of his own cruelty.
Shanti had asked for a smart phone from Hari and recorded the activities throughout the week and later Hari had shared it with the local police station.
A wrong number , a glimmer of hope and Shanti’s fate finally changed after her long ordeal.
