Blood in your hands...

They all knew that they will execute her in early December. By then all hopes of a settlement had disappeared.  She was to be executed by the 23rd of December.
Sadly she did not know it. In fact they had assured her everything will be ok. And that she would receive a pardon soon.
But on that fateful day they asked her to take a bath early in the morning. That was the first sign that something unusual was going to happen. Something, dangerous.
There was a lady who looked after her interests who had gone to visit her that day. She was told that she could not see her as a fire drill was in progress. Even she did not know the tragedy or is it better to call it travesty which was about to unfold.
The family of the dead child had gathered to witness the execution. So did some villagers from that area. She begged and pleaded for their Mercy. Ironically the lady of the household who insisted that she had to be executed remained tight lipped. One word from her and all this could have, NO would have come to a halt. But she did not utter a word. Her silence spoke loudly. Just like the cries of “kill her! kill her!” by her husband – the person who was open to a negotiated settlement in the first place. The villagers joined in enthusiastically and vociferously.
And thus a young and innocent life was  ended.
Many have written about this incident before and one of the most informative articles is the one by D.B.S Jeyaraj. We all know about the Indian translator who was used by the police to take her statement in Tamil. But what I have not read was about the translator who went to see her couple of hours later from the Sri Lankan embassy. The translator that endorsed the statement which she had been forced to make! Only if this official had made a hue and cry about it and protested at that point in time we would not be shaking our heads in dismay today. I think of all the people who were involved in this fiasco this guy has the most blood in his hands.