Cherry Blossoms - Part 4

            Krishna couldn't control himself.  He shook with violence.

            "Arnav is in for a big shock," thought Raghav.

            Of course, like most lawyers, Raghav was aware of Arnav's penchant for young children, especially girls.  At least one couldn't accuse him of gender discrimination but this didn't make it easy to forgive or forget his deeds.  Legal community knew him well and he had a reputation, albeit a negative one.  How he and some of his colleagues wished that one of these days he'd be killed in an accident!  And some of them had even thought of arranging one especially for him.  But at the same time they felt that this would mean letting him off the hook too easily.  Yet it was so difficult, nay almost impossible, to nail him for his crime as most of the victims refused to come forward to register their complaint in the first place and when some did, they were reduced to silence either with money or by their own family's sense of shame.

            This was the first time a victim was going to come out in the open.  And the fact that the accused and the victim had been seen recently with each-other, on the occasion of Sneha and Krishna's wedding, wasn't going to make things easy.  Arnav had known Sneha's family for a long time.  Arnav and Anand Kaushal, Sneha's father, had known each other for over 20-25 years now.  Now that Sneha's story was going to come out in the open, Arnav will have to face someone whose social status was higher than his own and it won't be so easy for him to stifle the case this time.  At the same time, it also meant hard time ahead for Sneha's parents we well as her in-laws.  The wedding of the year was about to become the nightmare of the decade for all concerned.

            Raghav was glad that he had been chosen for this task.  He was sure to be in limelight and gain popularity, both within lawyers' community as well as among public.  He had heard the tales of other victims and knew how harrowing it must be for Sneha.  Poor Krishna!  Did he have any idea what he had taken on?  His love for Sneha was taking him towards unchartered waters.  But will his love withstand the difficulties that awaited him?