Law And Lawyer

Mumbai, India.

It was a normal Monday morning.

The streets were crowded, people were rushing to work, and the sound of vehicles filled the air.

Inside a small apartment, a young man sat at his desk, staring at a book.

The Indian Penal Code.

He had been reading the same page for almost twenty minutes.

Not because the subject was difficult, but because his mind was somewhere else.

His name was Aarav Mehta.

He was twenty-four years old, a fresh law graduate, and someone who had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do next.

His phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" a voice asked.

Aarav checked the time.

"Oh, damn."

"You're late again, aren't you?"

"I'm coming, Rahul!"

He ended the call, grabbed his bag, and hurried out of the apartment.

Today was his first day working at a small law firm.

He had imagined this day many times. He thought he would walk into the office confidently, meet experienced lawyers, and begin working on important cases.

Instead, he arrived fifteen minutes late, with untidy hair and a shirt that was barely tucked in.

Rahul was waiting outside the office.

He looked Aarav up and down.

"First day, and you're already late."

"Good morning to you too."

"You're going to be a lawyer. At least learn how to arrive on time."

Aarav smiled. "I'll remember that, sir."

"Don't call me sir. I'm only here because the senior asked me to collect you."

They entered the office.

It wasn't particularly impressive. There were a few desks, shelves filled with legal books, and papers stacked in almost every corner.

But to Aarav, it felt like the beginning of something important.

Rahul introduced him to the other employees before taking him to the senior lawyer's cabin.

A man in his fifties sat behind a desk, reading a document.

"Sir, this is Aarav Mehta," Rahul said.

The man looked up.

"So, you're the new graduate."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know how to draft a legal notice?"

"A little, sir."

"Do you know how to argue in court?"

Aarav hesitated.

"Not yet, sir."

The man closed the document.

"Good. At least you know what you don't know."

He introduced himself as Advocate Vikram Sethi, the senior lawyer who would supervise Aarav's work.

"Listen carefully, Mehta. Law school teaches you the law. Working here will teach you how people use it."

Aarav nodded.

"Your job for today is simple. Organise these files and read the case summaries. Don't give advice to any client without discussing it with me first."

"Understood, sir."

Aarav collected the files and left the cabin.

For the next few hours, he did exactly what he had been told.

He read complaints, checked documents, and tried to understand the cases.

Most were ordinary disputes involving property, money, or family disagreements.

Then he picked up a thin brown file.

The title caught his attention.

State vs. Rohan Malhotra.

The case summary was short.

Rohan Malhotra had been accused of stealing money from the company where he worked. The police had arrested him, and the matter was now before the court.

Aarav read the summary twice.

Something about it bothered him.

The complaint stated that Rohan had been the only employee with access to the missing money.

But the attached statement mentioned another employee who had access to the same records.

That employee's name appeared nowhere else in the summary.

Aarav checked the next page.

Then the next.

The more he read, the more questions he had.

He carried the file into Vikram's cabin.

"Sir, may I ask you something?"

Vikram continued writing.

"Ask."

"Why is Rohan Malhotra being accused if someone else also had access to the money?"

Vikram finally looked up.

"Because the police believe Rohan did it."

"But the report doesn't explain—"

"Mehta."

Aarav stopped.

"You've been here for four hours. Don't assume you've understood a case by reading three pages."

"I'm not assuming anything, sir. I'm just asking."

Vikram studied him for a moment.

Then he held out his hand.

"Give me the file."

Aarav handed it over.

Vikram glanced at the summary and placed it on his desk.

"Sometimes the evidence is incomplete. Sometimes the client lies. And sometimes the truth is much less complicated than a young lawyer wants it to be."

"Then how do we know what really happened?"

Vikram leaned back in his chair.

"That's what we're paid to find out."

Aarav returned to his desk.

He tried to focus on the other files, but his thoughts kept returning to Rohan Malhotra.

He didn't know whether Rohan was innocent.

He didn't know whether the police had missed something.

And he certainly didn't know enough to challenge an investigation.

But he wanted to understand.

Later that afternoon, Vikram called him into the cabin again.

"Mehta, I want you to accompany me to the court tomorrow. You'll observe the proceedings and take notes. Don't interrupt, don't argue, and don't try to impress anyone."

Aarav smiled.

"Yes, sir."

"And one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Forget whatever you think you know about justice. Start by learning how the system actually works."

Aarav nodded and left the cabin.

He didn't realise it yet, but tomorrow would be the first time he saw what happened when two different versions of the same truth met inside a courtroom.

And he would soon discover that asking the right question was sometimes more dangerous than giving the wrong answer.