‘Honour’ crime: Boy attacks aunt with acid

MULTAN:

A boy attacked his aunt with acid on Tuesday accusing her of loose morals. The woman was taken to Nishter Hospital where doctors treating her said her condition was critical.

Police said Asfar*, 16, a resident of village Jalalpur Khaki, Shujabad, had attacked Sehrish, 24, his aunt, a daily-wage worker and a mother of two.

On Monday night, Asfar had accused her in front of her family of speaking to strangers on her phone, police said. He had said he would kill her if she did not hand over her phone to him.

Amjad, Sehrish’s brother, told media men on Tuesday that Asfar brandished a gun in front of the family demanding that Sehrish give him her phone. He said Sehrish denied the allegations and refused to hand over the phone. Then Asfar left their house, Amjad said.

“Asfar returned half an hour later with a bottle of acid and threw it on Sehrish and fled,” Amjad said.

Sehrish was taken to the tehsil headquarters hospital in Shujabad but doctors referred her to Nishter Hospital in Multan.

Doctors at Emergency Ward of Nishter Hospital told The Express Tribune that the victims had lost both her eyes. The doctors said that the woman had 60 per cent burns on her body and was being kept at the ICU ward.

“We are trying our best to save her but she is still in a critical condition,” they said later.

Saddar Superintendent Atif Nazeer said they had registered a case against Asfar. He said they had constituted teams to look for Asfar. “We will arrest him soon,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2014.