In the dead of the dreaded night, she suspiciously moved out of her old house. Her feet were shaky and her body was shivering. With fright on her face, she was concealing something beneath her Pheran. Once she was sure that she is not being spotted by anyone, she made her way towards deserted fields. Terrified by the voice of barking dogs, she hurriedly took out something from her Pheran and started burying it in the soil. Nervously she covered every bit of it with bits of grass and litter around and fled the place.
Back home, her son saw her coming and angrily asked, “Where were you? Isn’t it surprising that you left Masooma alone in her room?” The fearful mother stammered and said, “Nothing, I was just….” Without completing, she rushed to her daughters’ room. The son took it casually and went to sleep.
The next morning, he woke up late, as his mother had not given a wake-up knock at his door. Anxiously, he moved out of his bed and started looking for her. He went to Masooma’s room who gave her brother an unusual smile. He was somewhat upset to see the strange unease and disquiet at his home. He again spotted his mother entering the house. No sooner she stepped in, he asked her, “Why are you behaving so oddly, and why are your hands soiled?” The panicky mother tried to clean her hands on her back while saying, “I am just tired”.
Few days passed but the gloom and dismay at his home persisted. Meanwhile, Masooma developed some fever. “Mother, let us take her to the doctor”, said the son. “It is a simple fever, she will be alright soon”, mother replied coldly. Her weird behavior annoyed him. He got up furiously, banged the door, and left his home. His apprehensions that his mother was concealing something began getting strong.
Sun was dipping behind the mountains and the darkness was at hand. All of a sudden, mother heard some people rushing towards the fields and shouting, “What is it, why are dogs barking?” Unnerved, she hurried to the spot. She saw her son and other people at a place emanating stench. Without caring for the people around, the son said to his mother, “I saw you visiting this place several times, can you….”. “Hey! here is something under this soil”, one person interrupted, pointing his finger towards the spot. He covered up his face and started digging up. “What the hell is this?” he cried, as everybody got stunned. A small piece of decomposed flesh, a body of a newborn was unearthed. The mother broke down and fell in a faint. Her son, who was at a loss to understand anything, comforted the mother till she regained consciousness.
Before anybody could ask her anything, she said to her son, “Masooma gave birth to this dead child, and I secretly buried him here”. He was stunned and speechless. He lifted the stinky body of the newborn and wrapped it in a small cloth. Everybody around was taken aback as everyone knew that his sister was not married. “This is a heinous act, we should inform police”, said one of the elderly persons in a group.
The next day, a police squad and team of doctors rushed to their home. A huge crowd, drawing people from all over the village of Arizaal, was seen sympathizing with the brother and the mother of the victim. The police head took the brother and mother in isolation for questioning. “I know it is a moment of grief for you, but I need to do my duty. Was she having any relation…..” Before the man in uniform would complete, the brother held his hand and led him and the doctors to Masooma’s room. They saw a frail figure huddled around by women. The brother asked the women to leave the room as police and medical staff had to question Masooma.
A young girl in her early twenties was lying motionless on the bed. She only smiled at everyone. Before anyone could say anything, the brother uttered with difficulty, “She is my younger sister……Since her birth, I and my mother have been taking care of her”, taking a heavy sigh he slowly sat beside her and added in a choked voice, “she smiles at everyone as she does not know what has happened to her….. she is physically challenged and mentally retarded”. On hearing this, all took a step back. It was difficult for them to imagine such a sexual assault been inflicted on one who has a deranged mind and a diseased body, and who is not knowing who she is. Her spastic limbs and drooling mouth was pulling the pathetic attention towards her.
Both Masooma and her exhumed baby were shifted to the block hospital. As Masooma could not utter a word about what had happened with her and who was behind the gruesome crime, it was decided to take the newborn for postmortem. The postmortem team conducted an autopsy on a tiny piece of flesh and sent the samples for forensic tests.
Masooma did not know what being a mother means. She did not even know what being a woman means. A criminal sick mind in her part of the world (which she did not know is known as Kashmir) had behaved worse than an animal with her. Seems okay that she is oblivious of everything and remains so always. Her limbo is her salvation.