Mein Gunahgar Nahi By Muniba Asif

About this novel

Mein Gunahgar Nahi (Urdu: میں گنہگار نہیں) by Muniba Asif is a complete Urdu social novel about a crime against a little girl in Karachi. It follows her family’s long fight for justice, and it is a serious story written to raise awareness, not a romance.

The novel opens with a seven-year-old girl, lovingly called Gudiya, who loses her way home after madrasa. A stranger approaches, claims to be a friend of her father and offers to take her home. Trusting him, she goes along, only to be taken to a run-down house where a group of men are waiting. The writer makes clear that these men commit a terrible crime against the child and then abandon her. The book does not dwell on it; the focus quickly moves to the people who love her.

Her father, Ali, comes home from the factory at six in the evening, and his wife Samina tells him Gudiya hasn’t come back from madrasa. Ali rushes to the madrasa and finds it locked, then to the mosque, where the maulana tells him the children left over three hours ago. He searches every street. A neighbour, Pappu, gathers the whole mohalla to help, but there is no sign of her. When they go to the police, the officers refuse to register a case until twenty-four hours have passed.

ایک معصوم بچی، ایک ٹوٹا ہوا باپ، اور انصاف کی تلاش۔

On the way back, Pappu finds Gudiya, barely alive. Ali carries her to the hospital, swearing that he will not spare whoever did this. Soon the news is on television as breaking news from Paposh Nagar, and reporters crowd around Ali with question after question: when did it happen, does he have any enemies, what will he say to the government? Ali ignores them all and only asks the doctor about his daughter. Samina arrives in tears, and finally the doctor tells them that Gudiya is out of danger.

Muniba Asif uses this story to speak about child safety, police indifference and how society treats victims and their families. The title – “I am not a sinner” – points to the stigma that survivors often face for something that was never their fault. Readers should be aware that the subject is very distressing, though the writing does not describe the crime in detail.

You can read Mein Gunahgar Nahi online here or download the complete PDF for free. More by Muniba Asif: Mera Kya Qasoor, Samjhota and Pul E Sirat, or see all Muniba Asif novels.