The Outlaw - Part 1 Rise of A Savior

Ragapatinam, once a very peaceful and prosperous town known for its administration and beauty, had fallen into the hands of a corrupt politician, Rana, who was looting the citizens.

The air itself smelled of dishonesty and corruption. Nothing in the town could be achieved without a bribe.

People were in distress but were afraid to raise their voices against Rana as they had seen in the past what happened to the people who stood against him. Either the person was found dead in a mysterious manner or circumstances would be created in such a way that the person would take his own life.

One fine day a car hit a small child and mother. The owner of the vehicle was a relative of Rana. The mother and child were taken to the hospital. While the mother had slight scratches the child's leg had been fractured. Not knowing the owner of the car was a relative of Rana the mother screamed at the guy with all the anger she had inside by seeing the child in pain. Meanwhile, the police inspector entered the room, she turned to the police officer and started complaining about the owner of the car demanding he should be put behind bars for his reckless driving which could have cost the life of the child.

The police officer saluted the owner of the car and started saying “Rana Sir had called and had asked to make sure you are fine. Please call him once you get free.” Hearing these words a cold chill ran through the spine of the mother. What has she done? The anger suddenly changed into fear knowing the stories about Rana a man so ruthless who would simply kill people for speaking against him. He was a pure dictator who was engulfed in the spirit of power unable to see what was happening to the people he swore to protect nor did he was able to see the longitude of his actions and the magnitude to which it affected the people on the ground.

As all these thoughts were running through the head of the mother, she just wanted to take her child and leave from there alive. That was now the only thing that bothered her.

The police officer turned to the mother and started laughing and said “You want to lodge a complaint? I should charge a case against you for careless crossing the road and creating all this so that you can squeeze money out of respectable people. People like you would go to any extent to make a quick buck.” Hearing these insulting words the mother became furious and grabbed the collar of the police officer saying what are you trying to say? I threw my child in front of the car to make some cash out of this situation.

Feeling humiliated the police officer hastily pushed the mother, she lost her balance and was going to hit her head on a nearby bed’s footboard. A soft hand from somewhere caught her before she hit her head with a gentle tone a question came “Are you alright Mother?”, before she could answer the question, she saw a Drip bottle flying through the air, it hit the head of the police officer and he was on the ground.

In a trembling voice, she asked who are you son and what did you just do they are now going to come after you. To this question, he answered I am the new doctor who joined here my name is Perumal. You do not worry about me; just take care of your daughter rest I will handle.

Shocked by the incident the car owner ran away from there, Perumal was arrested for assaulting the police officer and sent to jail. Perumal became a sensation in the town overnight for standing up against Rana’s men. After carefully analyzing the situation Rana offered a peace treaty to Perumal: His case would be squashed but he must resign from the hospital and move out to some other place and never to return to Ragapatinam.

A young doctor who had taken the oath to protect the lives of the people was at a crossroads in his life. Either he takes the offer from Rana and forgets everything that has happened like a dream and goes back to his old life as a doctor or he goes through with what he had started which means he leaves everything behind of his old life, his years of hard work to become a doctor. In both scenarios, he will be doing good for the people. In one case he will be saving the lives of the people with a blade and in the other scenario, he will have to take lives to save the people in need. A quote that once his mother told him resonated in his mind again and again “You choose the sword's way and one day the sword will find you.”  

While contemplating all this a man came running to him and fell on his leg and started crying, please help, you can only help me. Even after telling multiple times the man refused to leave Perumal’s leg. Finally giving in to the strong determination of the man Perumal said “Okay, I will help you but first tell what is the matter with which you need help from me.”

The man began, “I am a farmer who owns some land near the new hotel that Rana is building. He asked me multiple times to sell the land to him, to which I disagreed as we have been into farming for generations and I do not know to do anything other than farming. Furious about having his offer rejected he made a false case against me and put me in jail. Here his men took my thump impressions and registered the property in his name. My family has been thrown into the road, and now they are living in a shed. Please help us.” The farmer was on his knees folding his hands in front of Perumal. This man has lost everything he had worked and built in his life. Thrown to rot in jail for something which he has not even done.

One drop of tear fell from the eyes of Perumal on the folded hands of the farmer. Perumal held the farmer by his shoulders and made him stand and said “My dear friend, never bow down in front of any man. You should only bow in front of the almighty.” In your case, injustice has happened to you and it's time to make things right. And hereby I Perumal promise you that I will make sure justice is served to you, by whatever means I have to take.

Knowing or unknowingly Perumal made the choice of his life. To leave his profession as a doctor and serve the people by addressing the injustice done to them, to be the voice of the voiceless in society. To lend an ear to voices that are unheard or subdued by the powerful of the society.

Perumal’s case was rejected in court due to the lack of eye witness as no one in the room agreed to see Perumal throwing a bottle at the police officer. When Perumal came out of the court he could see already a team of people had gathered to receive him. This was a team of people who had suffered the injustice of Rana and wanted to fight against him but were in search of the right leader who would guide them and know they had found their leader in Perumal.

Perumal was determined to give back the reply to Rana in the language he would understand. Dhruv one of the affected from Rana’s doings was in the forefront as the right-hand man of Perumal. He asked Perumal “Anna where are we going?” to which Perumal replied first we pay a visit to the land chief registrar's office.

The chief registrar was a fully corrupted person who had been taking hefty bribes from Rana doing his illegal land registrations. He sat in his cushy chair thinking nobody could touch him as he was protected by Rana himself as he was one of the key members of his syndicate helping Rana rapidly spread his empire.

Dhruv opened the door for Perumal showing the way to the chief registrar’s office. Perumal entered the office and sat on the wooden chair in front of the chief registrar. To this, the chief registrar replied in a usual casual tone “Whatever request you have fill up the form and give it inside to the clerk. We will look into it and call you if needed.”

Perumal spoke “Sir, my request is a personal one and I think it's better if we keep it off the papers. You had done an illegal registration of the land of a farmer named Mr. Nandu to Rana. I want you to revoke the registration and re-register the land back to Mr. Nandu.”

To this the chief registrar started laughing, “Are you mad or what, Do you want me to revoke the registration made to Rana? If you have a complaint regarding the registration, go file a case in the court man. Nothing is there in my hand.”

Perumal in a very gentle way requested again “Sir, you also know that this is not a valid registration and I do not have the time to go to the honorable court. Isn’t it better we settle it here where all this started?”

The chief registrar became furious and shouted at Perumal “Do you know whose hand is on my head and for whom I work? If Rana comes to know you will be thrown in jail and will never see the daylight again.”

Perumal looked at Dhruv and then at the door. Dhruv quickly understood what had to be done, he swiftly dashed towards the door and locked it.

Perumal took his one leg and kept on the other and started smiling. The air in the room suddenly became stiff. Perumal spoke “See Mr. Registrar, I am not a very patient man, and the jail you were mentioning I just came out of it today. I requested you twice nicely but you chose to ignore it so you have left me with no option. And in my book of justice, there is only one punishment and that is the death row.”

The chief registrar started trembling and said Anna I will do the re-registration please don’t kill me.

Perumal kicked the wooden chair he was sitting on and stood up drawing his sword, then swiftly sliced off the left hand of the registrar and spoke “Here I forgive you, but I am taking your left hand so that you remember to use your right hand to make the signature in the path of righteousness. And if you ever make me come again you will pay the price with your life.”

Permual looked at Dhruv and spoke, “Hang this hand in the front of the office, let it be a warning to all the people who want to go in the path of injustice.”

People had started gathering in front of the house of Perumal with their pleas for help, as these were the people who did not have money to bribe the system and were in search of relief. Somewhere they heard there sits a man who does justice to the needy without looking at anything.

Rana was aware of the increasing influence of Perumal in the city. People had started celebrating him and it was surely danger brewing, which should be stopped at any cost. Rana knew he had to stop Perumal in this initial stage otherwise it would become impossible to stop him in the future. 

A silent war had erupted which was not seen in front of the public.

To be continued……………………………………………………………………………………