These columns created pandemonium in the political world. Opportunities to settle scores with government officers present themselves to only a few fortunate editors. Meetings condemning the actions of the administration began to be held at various places. Many members requested the management to question the government on this issue. The administration had never been in such a quandary before. Finally, it found no other way to retain its prestige except by suing Kailas for defamation.5
A case was filed against Kailas. The government was defending Naeem. Kailas was his own attorney. For reasons unknown, prominent barristers and lawyers refused to fight his case. Finally, the judge had no other option but to allow Kailas to fight his own case, despite his being completely ignorant of the law. The case dragged on for months. It created a sensation among the public. Thousands of people used to gather in the courtroom every day. Newspapers began to fly off the stands. Enterprising readers earned money in the evening from the resale of the day’s newspaper as by then vendors had none left. Those issues which had earlier been known to only a few readers were now commented upon by the ordinary populace. Naeem had never been more embarrassed. He was the topic of discussion in every household and on every street. He was in the eye of the storm and at the receiving end of the ire of the people. The day finally arrived when the two friends, who would give their lives for one another, came face to face in the dock. Kailas began to question Naeem. He had never felt such anguish before. It was as if he were running a sword through his friend’s throat. For Naeem, it was nothing less than a trial by fire. The countenances of both were sad, one with self-reproach, the other with fear. Naeem tried to be jovial. He would sometimes break out in nervous laughter; but Kailas—who knew what travails his heart was undergoing at that moment?
Kailas asked, ‘Do you accept that we were schoolmates?’
Naeem replied, ‘Yes, I do.’
‘Do you accept that we were so thick that we had no secrets from each other?’
‘Most certainly, I do.’
‘Did you not tell me that the prince was responsible for this murder?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Did you never utter the words that this is a packet of twenty thousand rupees?’
Naeem neither hesitated, nor displayed any embarrassment. His voice didn’t falter or quiver at all. There was no sign of any disturbance, instability or bewilderment on his face. He stood impassive and untouched. Kailas had asked this question hesitatingly. He had been afraid that Naeem would have no answer to this question, and that he would start weeping in remorse. But Naeem replied calmly, ‘It’s possible that you might have dreamt this whole conversation.’
Kailas was stunned for a moment. Then he turned in astonishment towards Naeem and asked, ‘Didn’t you tell me yourself that you have been partial towards Muslims on occasions and that you have been asked to investigate this case because you are regarded as being anti-Hindu?
Naeem didn’t hesitate in the least. He spoke with composure, unperturbed, ‘Your imagination is truly amazing. In all the years I stayed with you, I didn’t have an inkling that you had such a miraculous ability to invent incidents.’
Kailas didn’t ask any further questions. He was not as saddened by his defeat as he was at the degradation of his friend’s conscience. He could not imagine in his wildest dreams that a man could so brazenly deny his own words and that too before the person to whom they had been spoken. To Kailas, it was the zenith of human weakness. That Naeem, who was the same inside and out, he who matched his words and his deeds, whose speech was a reflection of his innermost feelings, that simple, self-respecting, truth-loving Naeem . . . how could he have become so cunning and wicked? Did a man lose his humanity when shackled in slavery? Was slavery a means of metamorphosing divine qualities into evil?
The court offered Naeem compensation in the form of a decree for twenty thousand rupees. It was as if a thunderbolt fell on Kailas.6
This decision caused a furore in the political world once again. The government newspapers called Kailas a cheat, while those on the side of the public termed Naeem the very embodiment of Satan. Naeem’s audacity might have acquitted him in the eyes of the law, but the public looked down on him even more than before. Kailas was deluged with letters and telegrams of sympathy. Newspapers spoke of his fearlessness and truthfulness in glowing terms. Meetings and processions were organized where dissatisfaction against the ruling of the court was expressed; but dry clouds do not quench the thirst of a parched earth. How was he going to get twenty thousand rupees? This was the cost of nationalism, of following one’s principles. Twenty thousand! Kailas had never seen the amount even in his dreams. Where would he get it from? The interest from such a large sum would have been enough to rid him of the worries of earning a livelihood. He abhorred the very thought of appealing to the public for money through his newspaper. ‘I didn’t seek permission from my readers before launching on this crusade,’ he thought. ‘No one had forced me to fight for
