“Tumhare-hamare ghar ki roshni to nahi bujhi na?” he asks. Nasir tells him to call back in 10 minutes. It’s 1.30 pm now and the two again scan the lists —- of those injured lying in Safdarjung Hospital, those who reached Attari safely and the few identified dead bodies in Panipat. Still no sign of Ara Jahan.

Finally it is the turn of Casket No. 31. A woman’s body lies half-burnt inside. One look and Zakira breaks down, even as she tentatively touches the woman’s hair and a clip her sister was wearing. “She is fair like baaji, is as tall and well-built as her,” the words are forced out of her.

Inspector Sat Prakash comes with a sealed packet with the number 31 written on it. He opens the packet before Zakira and pulls out charcoal black bits of garment, a tattered sock and a chain with a triangular pendant. “She was wearing warm socks like these,” Zakira whispers.

Finally at 2 pm, Casket No. 31 has a tag: 55-year-old Ara Jahan, wife of Mubarak Ali Khan, mother of Shabab, Jamshed, Samia, Safia and Uruj, resident of Aurangi in Pakistan. Identified by a tattered sock she was wearing at the time her body was removed from the Attari Special.

Nasir musters all his courage to call up Ara Jahan’s daughter Samia. “We are very unfortunate... Abbajaan ko sambhalo,” he mumbles before breaking down. Police begin their procedures. Half an hour later Shabab calls back from Aurangi. “I am coming to get my mother home. Do not take her to Rampur,” he says. Nasir throws up his hands in despair. “What did those people get by killing my sister, what had she done?”