Gulabi now runs a hidden still inside an abandoned stepwell. She distills “black water” – a potent moonshine – and sells it to women who trade it for a bucket of clean water. The town’s male elders don’t know that the “ghost well” supplies half the basti’s drink and water.
A low rumble. Not water – but the sound of hundreds of women stepping forward, each holding a bottle of illicit maal. Mukhiya’s men draw guns – but Raghuvendra stands in front of Gulabi. Episode ends as she picks up a broken shard of the pot and whispers: “Tonight, Nagar will drink its own truth.”
Mukhiya’s men capture Gulabi, mistaking her for a “pure” bride because she still wears her mother’s red bangles. They wash her, dress her, and force a marriage contract. Raghuvendra is horrified – he recognizes Gulabi from a reform meeting years ago. But Mukhiya reveals: “She is the daughter of that woman who laughed at the ritual. Now she will complete it.”