Summary of lights out by manjula padmanabhan
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Leela is worried about the crime that takes place every night in her neighbor’s compound. The fear in her is so much that she cannot sleep at night when her husband Bhaskar is away. He dismisses her plea of complaining to the police as he cannot get involved and the police would not take necessary action.
Bhaskar tells Leela that they have a guest that night for dinner and that she must ignore what she saw. The guest Mohan Ram has already been told about the screaming next door before he steps in. When he comes, he is more interested in knowing more about what happened rather than offering assistance to the victim. This pains Leela greatly as both Bhaskar and Mohan Ram take pleasure in just discussing rather than performing. With no one to interfere, both of them consider the happening to be a religious ritual.
Soon Naina, one of Leela’s schoolmates joins the group. Like Leela, she is horrified at the indifferent attitude of the men and upset at the sounds that she hears. When Surinder, Naina’s husband enters and witnesses all that is happening, he is exasperated and announces that they had better go and kill the troublemakers. But, although he reacted differently compared to the other two men, no action as taken. Thus, no one ventures to help the victims. Suddenly, the screaming comes to an end and the rapists leave the place.