FIR

Here’s a short news piece that appeared today in The Times of India print edition (I couldn’t find it on their website) that I’m reproducing in full:

Pipe row: 20 ‘strip, rape’ HP woman

Shimla: At least 20 people allegedly stripped and raped a woman after a dispute over the laying of a water pipeline at Theog in Himachal on December 27. The group also allegedly thrashed the woman and her husband Bir Singh. Police denied the allegations of rape saying she did not mention it while recording her statement. Instead, an FIR has been registered against her husband for theft.

It’s hard to comment on the news when so little information is available. But I found it fascinating how just a one-paragraph news report can contain multitudes, not just in terms of the different stories that it hints at, but also in the way that it is written. No?