Noor Ilahi, said neighbours, first supported his father, then switched over to his wife. ``He came back here once but didn’t say much. He looked troubled and only said ‘Sirf murda hi janta hai qabar ka haal. (Only the dead know state of the grave.’’

At the Charthawal police station station, the SHO was only too willing to discuss the case. Unaccustomed to such attention, he had learnt quickly to play the gracious host. For visiting journalists he had a ready smile and a ready glass of mango juice topped with bright tutti-frutti and sliced almonds — ordered from across the road. ``I have been posted in many areas with a high crime graph but in all my postings I have never got fame like this. Now when I walk in the market, people point towards me and say there goes the daroga,’’ he said. But his fifteen minutes of fame have long been over.

After a year, Imrana has returned to headlines this week with the conviction of her father-in-law. There are reports of fresh fatwas and also of her difficulties in getting her children admission to schools.

But like before, Imrana’s troubles, much like her, may soon withdraw behind a veil of silence, lost to the world.