“Granted,” ruled Justice Sumitra.
“Let me see the relevance of her evidence,” said Mehrotra superciliously to Paranjape before he went on pressing deviously on the witness. “You’ve stated that Mr. Suresh had an intercourse with you, didn’t you?”
“I said he raped me,” she corrected him.
“What’s a rape if it’s not an intercourse?”
“It might help,” she said nonchalantly, “if you check up with your dictionary. Rape is an intercourse with an unwilling woman qualified by force.”
“Oh, I see,” said Mehrotra unable to hide his admiration for her meticulous preparation.
“By the way,” said Mehrotra hoping to trick her, “are you a virgin?”
“Didn’t I state that he raped me?”
“But were you a virgin,” said Mehrotra menacingly, “when the accused allegedly raped you?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you should’ve had some idea of lovemaking,” said Mehrotra without a let up, “say, from friends or through pornography.”
“Well.....”
“Can you please tell this honorable court,” said Mehrotra unabashedly, “how your sexual union with the indicted did differ from what you had imagined it would be?”
“I was looking forward to the pleasure of penetration,” she replied as a matter of fact, “but the rape left me in pain and despair.”
“You being a virgin at the time of the alleged rape,” said Mehrotra, seeing a chink in her amour at last. “How would this honorable court know whether his force led to rape or your consent led to his force? After all, deflowering involves some force, does it not?”
“Objection,” roared Paranjape in disgust, “for this devious question.”
“Wish the defense draws its own lines,” said the Judge in indignation.
“Ms. Justice may please appreciate the validity of my question in the face of her accusation,” said Mehrotra unmoved. “Having alleged that my client had raped her, she spelt out her understanding of rape. Thus, it is imperative for the court to know whether the force allegedly used by Mr. Suresh Prabhu was meant to deflower her willing self.”
“You may proceed,” said Justice Sumitra helplessly.
“You said you were a virgin at the time of the alleged rape and it is a fact that force is an ingredient of defloration,” Mehrotra sounded persuasive. “Now enlighten this honorable court why the force you felt was not the part of a consensual deflowering.”
“The differing womanly responses differentiate the willing defloration and forced penetration,” she said to the relief of Paranjape who by then felt that his rival was wresting the initiative from him.
“What are those like?” pressed Mehrotra not wanting to give up without a fight.
“I presume the pain of defloration would make woman hug her man for her comfort,” she said with all conviction. “But the revulsion of rape would prompt her to hurt the beast to resist.”