worker who was quite a strong muscled person was one of the strike leaders. He accosted Vishnu and beat him and Vishnu came to factory with his bleeding mouth. I had seen that at the gate. He attended work. After @ few days the strike fizzled out. The Company gave a charge-sheet to the worker who beat Vishnu and I was appointed as an Enquiry Officer.
Once the enquiry proceedings had started I wrote down the statement given by Vishnu. The charge-sheeted worker was present at the time of enquiry. I was recording in my own hand the proceedings as they were taking place. Usual formality of signatures on the papers etc was proceeding normally. Vishnu repeated the complaint as he had done orally to the Company officers: He narrated how the worker slapped him in the face and how and how his lip was cut bleeding with the thrashing he received. Vishnu was an illiterate worker who was known to be a simpleton. As against that the accused worker was a stronger, younger, and educated person known for his tough behaviour. That Vishnu was beaten and bleeding was a fact but he would find it difficult to face the cross-examination by such a stronger person. The atmosphere at the enquiry was tense. But it was necessary to prove that the accused had beaten him. Due to general atmosphere at the time of strike, there was no possibility of any other witness coming forward to substantiate Vishnu's allegation. Since both accused and the victim worked in the same company identification was not much of a problem. I was convinced that what Vishnu was stating was Truth. Vishnu was not capable of narrating a fictional story. I was worried how he will face the cross examination by the accused. The accused was treating Vishnu like a fool. Vishnu had no other support but the Truth.
The accused started the cross-examination. There were some preliminary questions, like the time of the train, the platform number of the station, time he got down and other details of that type. Vishnu stood all those questions firmly. Vishnu stuck to his story as per original statement and he was not deviating. Then as a final blow the accused asked Vishnu, “Vishnya, you say that I slapped you on the cheeks and you started bleeding. How is it that there is no scar on the cheeks at all?” He asked this as a final straw to break the complainant's evidence. There was no scar on the cheek of Vishnu and it was very clear as day light. Vishnu replied, “Melya, you hit me on the face. My teeth pierced my cheek from inside then how can you see the scar on the outside?” He opened his mouth and showed the scar inside his mouth. And then the Accused just collapsed and became small in a moment of Truth. He immediately admitted the charge, and lost a good job. The truth of a simpleton like Vishnu was so strong and powerful that everything else just fizzled out in a trice.
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