It is clear from Anil story that the most powerful man is the Headman, a wealthy man who run the village and all men and women living in this poor village are terrified and scared from him. Many people who lived there are working for him as servants or different job such as milkman and tailor, always wanted to please him and avoid his punishment which could be result of unmeaning fully action.
No one could complain about anything done by the Headman or any member of his family. He is also the person who can judge between people living there with lack of legality. People believe that they should follow all his rules and commands blindly.
Anil’s father and mother are also working as servants for the Headman and soon Anil will start working as well when his age permits although he didn’t have any knowledge about that.
When all villagers are crowded around the dead woman, the Headman announced that she has clearly committed suicide and proposes that they bury her without informing the authorities of the circumstances of her death. It is clearly in his interests not to have any investigation about that, despite of the whispering that he heard about abusing that woman. However, he didn’t take any action or at least pretend to take an action towards his brother when he heard from people the fact of abusing a woman by his brother. He asked people if anyone wanted to tell the authority about this accident. The narrator used a rhetorical question to emphasize the point that the