Her village head for instance. His office quickly turned into a media centre, the first stop for those chasing the story. Of course, it also helped that his brother ran the local cable station Abhi Tak. The village, where the majority is Hindu, was slightly miffed that Imrana chose to approach the Darul-ul-uloom at Deoband rather than just take the legal option, but they stood by her. After all, she was their own, they shrugged. It was also our village vs theirs story.

While Imrana’s family refused to speak, her in-laws were only too eager. At the semi-pucca house in Noorbafan Mohallah, two lanes behind the Charthawal police station, her ailing mother-in-law had little strength to speak. But her sister-in-laws put in a good word for their arrested father-in-law.

In Charthawal, Imrana had two sets of neighbours. One who ‘’didn’t really know her’’ and the other who denounced her. Persistence got nothing more than some sociological insights. ‘’Don’t ask me, I am a Tyagi and that woman is a Qureishi — kasai (butcher),’’ said one neighbour, waving at a slightly bewildered passerby. ‘’Imrana’s family is Ansari — julaha (weavers), so how should we know anything about them,’’ she asked triumphantly, pleased with her reasoning.

Immediate neighbours, though, dismissed the rape charge. Said her neighbour Dr Mohammad Hanif Tyagi. ‘’It’s basically a property dispute. She and her husband Noor Ilahi wanted to sell this house but her in-laws didn’t want that. She has framed them. Let the case be tried. If Ali is proved guilty, then punish him.’’

... contd.