Misplaced, discovered and forgotten: The ordeal of a cell phone theft sufferer

Technically, the telephone was in my possession, I might not regain possession—the telephone would stay courtroom property. After studying by means of this lengthy record of circumstances, I made a decision it wasn’t definitely worth the problem. I left with out even entering into the maalkhana, having wasted a whole day.

The case had begun, and shortly, summons began arriving at my home. Thus started the limitless cycle of tarikh pe tarikh—date after date, listening to after listening to. In the meantime, the case was transferred to a different choose. Beforehand, I had been making my approach to Room 21 of Patiala Home Courtroom; now, I needed to go to Room 7 as a substitute. On one such listening to, I pleaded with the choose to place an finish to the case. He agreed— it had dragged on lengthy sufficient. He assured me that the matter could be closed on the subsequent listening to. However when that day arrived, the choose was absent and one other date was assigned. Then, on one more event, the opposite celebration failed to point out up.

By this level, I realised that skipping a listening to in such a case wasn’t thought-about a critical offense, so I, too, missed a few dates. Lastly, on 28 November 2023—greater than 9 years after I misplaced my telephone—I acquired one more summons. This time, by sheer coincidence, all the pieces aligned. The choose was current, I used to be current and so was the individual from whom the telephone had been recovered. With the consent of each events, the choose closed the case then and there.

As I stepped out of the Patiala Home constructing that afternoon, by means of the thick haze of air pollution, I felt an immense sense of aid. A weight had lastly been lifted—I used to be now not certain by the limitless cycle of courtroom appearances. If I had wished, I might have retrieved my telephone from the maalkhana with a little bit of effort and a few paperwork.