What was Algu’s verdict as a head punch? How did Jumman take it?

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the story Fair Play. The story is originally written by the famous Indian writer Premchand. The theme of the story revolves around the moral that no one should deviate from the path of Justice and truth for the sake of any friendship or enmity.

Complete answer:
Algu Chowdhary and Jumman were best friends. Jumman had inherited his old aunt’s property in exchange for a promise. The promise was to take care of his aunt for the rest of her life. Initially, it went down well with Jumman but after some time he and his wife became annoyed with the old lady. They would not treat her kindly, humiliate her and not give proper food. Therefore, the old lady asked Jumman to pay her a monthly allowance so that she could set up her own kitchen.

The old lady was refused by Jumman. Thus, she approached the panchayat of the village. When she was asked to choose a punch from the village who would deliver the decision of her case then, she chose Algu. This made Jumman happy, expecting that Algu being his friend will deliver the verdict in his favour. However, Algu gave the verdict impartially and asked Jumman to give the old lady a month’s allowance or return her property.

Taken aback, Jumman broke his friendship with Algu thereafter. He was hurt and thus, assumed Algu as his enemy. He wanted to take revenge from Algu.

Note: Later, Algu faced hard times in life. He was tricked over money by Samjhu Sahu and had to approach the village panchayat. Samjhu cleverly chose Jumman as the punch. However, when Jumman assumed the duties of punch he could not convince his conscience to take revenge through this post of Justice. He delivered the verdict in favour of Algu and realised that it's important for truth and justice to prevail over everything else. They became friends again.