Chapter 9
‘What? But how? What happened?’ Jay’s voice shivered, his words were choked by the shock he received.
‘She returned in the morning, and what she didn’t know was that the pimp fixed a transmitter in her body, which had a function of voice recording and also recorded her location, she was trapped. The pimp heard half of the interview, but unfortunately that half was her story after coming to Thailand, and she knew that Gudiya would try to escape, and that Gudiya was demanding help from someone.’
Jay was horrified, ‘And they killed her?’
‘No, she was left on the mercy of some bodyguards who beat her till half dead, and seeing her condition, her four months pregnancy, she didn’t survive…’ Sana hugged Jay and cried.
She took out a pen from his pocket and went away. Jay kept staring at the tombstone of Gudiya and he couldn’t believe that she was no more. Till yesterday, he was interviewing her, she was so happy, full of life, full of hope and faith. She was such a strong and brave woman, and they murdered her?
Jay called up Anil and told him everything. From the interview, to the murder, he told the entire team, everything and they called up Dixit in India. Dixit was now worried as Jay was trapped into a dirty situation. It would be wise to leave the country and come home, rather getting into any deep mess, he advised. But Jay was not ready to negotiate, he decided to stay and fight for Sana, and deceased Gudiya.
‘What now?’ Anil came rushing towards Jay who was still standing at the backyard of Church.
‘Nothing, either you help me, or you leave, don’t hang in between!’
‘You are so blunt, Jay.’
‘Absolutely! Because I am so not diplomatic.’
‘Fine, what can we do? Fight with the pimps? Or the law? This is not India, and here, prostitution is legal in some places, how can we prove someone is forced into this business unless we have a live witness? That woman is now dead, do we have any option?’
‘Of course, we do! Call Mahi…’
For a moment, the crew couldn’t believe that Jay was actually seeking Mahi’s help in unveiling the truth behind the brothels, and the innocent girls trapped there.
‘I don’t think it’s of any use, she’s related to entertainment and cinema.’
‘Can you please do what I’m saying? I also know what I’m doing!’ Jay said and took some brisk steps towards the gate of the church.
They called up Mahi and she reached within half an hour. They met in a hotel and Jay told everything to her.
‘But what do you expect me to do? How can I be of any help?’ Mahi raised a brow.
‘Exactly! That’s what I’ve been trying to explain this mad man!’ Anil spoke.
Mahi couldn’t control her laughter. It was for the first time that Jay was listening to his insult from anyone, in his entire career!
‘What are you giggling at? Make him understand that this business is getting risky and dangerous, and it’s best if we move out of it, instead of getting involved. Because when we need any witness, no one would come forward as they’re all too afraid to speak the truth…’
‘She wasn’t, she spoke everything, and we don’t need any witness.’ Jay inserted the memory card in the camera and showed them the footage. Gudiya narrated her entire painful saga, everyone was left with moist eyes, after the video was over.
‘Alright, this is good enough! We can even show it to the Thai police, but then, if the officials demand the girl, what would we say? She was killed? Do we have any proof? And how will we prove that she is an actual prostitute, and not a hired actress?’
Mahi was right. Even Jay was put into thoughts for a moment. Seeking help from Thai police was of no use.
‘How about sending the footage to India? Talk to Dixit and AIR this interview as soon as possible?’ Anil placed his thought.
‘See, the problem is again the same. We don’t have a live witness, and nobody will believe it. It will look like a forged footage of some third grade actress, who cries and speaks, and cries again!’ Mahi stood up in defence.
‘People will believe it. I don’t doubt that, but we need some more information, like location of her brothel, names of the people who harassed her, so that the story can sound real.’
‘I agree Mr. Anil, but then who will provide this information now?’
‘I know, she promised me to help. Sana…’ Jay spoke after a long silence.
Meanwhile the door of their room was knocked several times. A crew member stood up to look who was at the door. It was a bell-boy, who carried some kind of note with him, addressed to Jay.
‘Sir, this is for you.’ The crew member forwarded the crumpled paper to Jay.
The paper was crumpled and a pen was attached with it. It was Jay’s pen that Sana took. Jay couldn’t ask her anything as he was still in shock of Gudiya’s death. He opened up the note, it was from Sana:
Jay Sir,
I’m trapped, and I can’t even contact anyone freely. That’s the reason I borrowed your pen, as my pen is instilled with a recorder that captures everything I write. After Gudiya’s interview with you, our pimp got some girls operated and installed a transmitter in everyone’s body that keeps a track of our location. Only a surgery can get rid of that thing. I don’t know whether it records our voice also, but that’s the reason I couldn’t speak the truth to you. Gudiya is alive and needs our help. She was beaten, but I rescued her and kept her in church, in the grave, as it is the only place I can visit daily even multiple times, and that too in my pimp’s surveillance. Moreover, the transmitter is still inside her body, I don’t know if the pimp switched the damn thing off, or not, but I can’t risk her life, so she can’t move from there.
I hardly eat any food, as she needs it more than me. She was beaten, and her body is too weak now. Please don’t move her from her grave, but do provide some food, else, she will die.
Sana
‘What in the name of God, is going on?’ Mahi was shocked at brutality of the brothels.
‘Welcome to real world, darling!’ Jay taunted Mahi.
Mahi sighed, and everyone figured out a plan to help both, Sana, and Gudiya!