Burying a ‘sin’: Man buries infant daughter alive

Relatives say he repeatedly accused his wife of having an affair.

MULTAN:

Blinded by an uncontrollable fit of rage and jealousy, a landlord is said to have buried his one-year-old daughter alive to avenge his wife’s ‘sin.’

Resident of a village in Kot Addu in Muzaffargarh district, Younus Allahditta* buried his infant daughter Abeera* after convincing himself that she was an illegitimate child of his wife Kulsoom*, locals told The Express Tribune.

Allahditta married Kulsoom around five years ago and the couple had their first child, a son, three years later. About a year ago, the two had another child whom they named Abeera.

Allahditta, however, regularly fought with Kulsoom, accusing her of having an affair with another man. He would repeatedly ask his wife who the real father of Abeera was – and upon not getting an answer which satisfied him – beat her up severely, claimed an aunt of Kulsoom.

Late on Sunday night, Allahditta launched another brutal assault on Kulsoom and the infant. This time, however, he did not stop there. He took the baby with him outside the house and disappeared for the night.

After about 12 hours, Allahditta’s nephew Irfan received a call from him saying he had gotten rid of his wife’s ‘sin’ by burying her daughter alive. Allahditta told his nephew he had done so to punish his wife and that the child was buried in a nearby field.

Upon receiving the information, Allahditta’s family located the grave and informed the police.

Police said the baby’s body was buried under four feet of dirt, weighing more than 22 to 25 kg. Preliminary reports from a postmortem conducted at THQ Hospital, Kot Addu, revealed that Abeera was alive when she was buried, but died four to five minutes after.

A detailed report will be submitted to the police on Tuesday morning.

SHO of Sarwa Shaheed area, Arshad Khan said Allahditta had been arrested after 16 different raids and shifted to an unknown place due to fears of a violent reaction by enraged locals and relatives of the victim.

Kulsoom’s father Nazeer Hussain said his daughter is not talking to anyone as she is still in a state of shock. He admitted Kulsoom had told him about her husband’s accusations several times in the past. (*names have been changed to protect identities)

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2012.