[Chapter 1] Qazi’s house and virgin daughter

A true story of crime and punishment, detection and investigation.

The narrator Ahmad Yar Khan (Retired Detective Inspector of Police)

I thought it was a simple joke. But it turned out to be a dispute. It was a town on this side of the border that became a very special city during World War II. Muslims made up about 25% of the population. Muslims were also professional workers educated middle class. And a good number of them were wealthy, their neighborhoods were separate. There was only one police station in the city, which also included some surrounding villages. One morning I reached the police station and found that a case had come. I called these people to my office. Among them was a young boy who was sixteen and seventeen years old. If this young man had been in a burqa, no one would have suspected that he was a boy. Even without the burqa, his face was like a girl’s.

In those days girls especially Muslim girls were less than six feet two and a half inches tall. Nowadays, no man of this height is seen.

This young man was very handsome.

He was not thin. He was a young man with a very fit body. His name was given as Akhtar. It was later learned that the mother called him Akhtri. His complexion was fair and he had a Turkish cap on his head. At that time most of the Muslims in the cities wore a red cap with a black band, which was called a Turkish cap. It was not customary to keep the head bare. Sitting bare-headed in front of the elders was considered against manners and rudeness.

Mother was with Akhtar and two other respectable men of the neighborhood had also come with them. The incident that he told was that Akhtri used to go to his friend’s house every other night. He had passed matriculation a few days ago. It was finished now. He was coming from his friend’s house around nine o’clock last night. In a street, there was an old and uninhabited house. It was becoming a ruin. When Akhtar passed in front of this house, someone hit him on the head with a stick or thick stick from behind. Akhtar was confused.

The stars began to dance before his very eyes.

Akhtar’s mind was heard. He could not think enough to look back and see who was chasing him. If he is hit on the back of the head the man becomes unconscious. Akhtar even remembered being hit by someone with a heavy stick or stick and immediately after that. There were other bruises on his upper back. Then he lost consciousness When he regained consciousness. They were taking him to the hospital on four legs. He did not know the assailant. He had no money in his pocket.

There was no clock. There was no gold ring. He did not have anything of value that he was attacked to rob meaning it was not a case of extortion. It was a town and it was winter. People used to go to sleep till 9 o’clock in the night and the streets were deserted. Seeing the boy’s age and beauty, I had some doubts. You must have read news in newspapers these days that a boy left one friend and became friends with someone else, and the first friend stabbed the boy. This incident seems to me to be of the same type.