Something needs to change...

It was the 27th of August, 2011.

4: 13 pm

Amit had left early from his theatre rehearsals to attend to a prior engagement. According to him, his day had gone brilliantly till then. A lot of creative ideas flooded through his mind as he walked towards the college gate with his metro friend to head home.

4:16 pm

As he was exiting the gate Amit spotted a dog barking at a kid. The kid was collecting plastic wastes and putting them in his bag along with a friend. Moments later the dog charged at the kids and they started running towards the center of the road. What the kids didn't notice was that a motorbike was coming their way from the other side.

4: 17 pm

All bystanders turned their head at once to the scene as a huge cry came from one of the kids. Amit and his friend dropped their bags and ran to the impact point. The visuals seemed almost graphic. The kid looked almost 8 years old. Below his left knee, it seemed like the bone had broken and his lower leg was shaking like a jell-o, almost as if his bone had disappeared. There was an impact wound right above the fracture, from where blood was sprinkling out at regular intervals. 

4: 19 pm

The screams did not fade, as the kid remained on the ground. A group of almost a dozen people had gathered at the scene, including the college guard and the two people on the motorbike who had hit the kid. The kid couldn't stand up. The two people on the motorbike suddenly started riding off after proclaiming that they would arrange a car to get the kid to a hospital. But that was not to be. Instinctively, Amit's friend noted down the number plate of that motorbike.

4: 24 pm

Two people in the group started to ask Amit and his friend to call the cops. Some even asked to send that kid home. Amit stopped a car and asked the driver to drop the kid to a hospital. The driver replied, "Sir, I'm in a great hurry. I have to leave". 

The screams still hadn't faded.

4: 26 pm

Panic stricken, Amit's friend shouted out for a cycle rickshaw. 

The next question was that who would take an eight year old bleeding kid to the hospital. After most of the people including the college guard backed out, Amit voluntarily offered to take the kid to the hospital but not before the rest of the cowards gave a few words of wisdom as to how he should first call the cops. He carried that kid into the rickshaw. Amit's hands were covered in blood.

4: 28 pm

The kid, who told Amit that his name was Golu and his house was in Dallupura, also said that his parents did not have a phone of any sort where Amit could call. The kid went on crying. The two kilometers from the college gate to the hospital seemed equivalent to two hundred. Midway on the journey, the kid pulled on Amit's sleeve and said, "Bhaiyya, Please save me…I don't want to die".

4: 34 pm

A police van standing outside the hospital spotted Amit and the injured kid on the rickshaw and demanded the rickshaw to stop. The policemen proclaimed that the hospital wont treat the kid and to leave the kid with them. However, a guard standing on the gate denied any such rule and rushed the rickshaw in. 

4: 45 pm

The policeman took Amit's statement with his personal details including his phone number. After washing his hands and feet, Amit went into the emergency ward to check on the kid once before leaving. The kid had just been simply bandaged and was still crying. When Amit approached the doctor, he replied that since it is a police case, he will need a medico-legal certificate. Amit rushed outside the hospital to look for the policeman.

4: 50 pm

The policeman was parked across the road. When Amit approached the drivers seat, the policeman threatened him to give the policeman his correct number. When Amit looked at his personal details he saw that a '9' had been overwritten to form a '1'. Amit made the correction and the policeman verified by giving  a missed call.

4: 58 pm

The policeman did not say anything about the absconding men on the motorbike whose plate number Amit had given them. Instead the policeman said, "I'll stay in touch". Then Amit was asked to leave.

5: 07 pm

Amit's friend had been waiting at the college gate for him. As Amit approached the gate, the guard with the letters 'To serve and protect' imprinted on his shirt stood up and said, "Thank you, sir".