Sources claim the hut caught fire while food was being prepared. STOCK IMAGE
The mother was brought to the burns unit at Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan, on March 2 and discharged on March 21, the hospital authorities said on Tuesday. The unit in-charge, Prof Dr Anwar, confirmed to The Express Tribune these dates after going through the records. He added that the name of the woman's daughter was not registered at the hospital.
The Khenjoo police registered an FIR on Monday against three men for sexually assaulting a woman and her minor daughter from the Menhoon Mahar village a month ago and then leaving them to die in a burning hut. Gul Mochi, Hashim Mochi and Noor Hassan Mochi were named in the FIR.
Muhammad Sadiq Solangi said that his mother and 12-year-old sister stitched patchwork quilts and sold them in neighbouring villages. According to him, his mother and sister went to the nearby Mochi village on February 28 where they were sexually assaulted and set on fire by three men. He said the two were taken to the Shaikh Zayed Hospital where the minor succumbed to her injuries.
Quoting the woman, some Daharki-based journalists said the accused had forced her to stay overnight at their hut due to bad weather. "At night the accused offered us tea, which was apparently drugged," said the woman. "We lost consciousness and they sexually assaulted us, bound us with ropes and set the hut on fire."
She said some residents took her and her daughter to a local hospital. Since the hospital did not have a burns ward facility, the doctors referred them to the Rahim Yar Khan hospital. "My daughter succumbed to her injuries and I regained consciousness after four weeks, after which I came to Daharki and told my husband and son about the incident."
On the other hand, some sources in the Menhoon Mahar village have claimed that the woman was staying at the hut where the fire occured of her own will. Noor Hassan, who has been nominated in the FIR, was himself burnt while rescuing the woman and the daughter and was sent to Sadiqabad hospital for treatment on March 1. While the Khenjoo police have registered cases against Noor Hassan and his brothers, arrests have yet to be made.
Age issue
Daharki-based journalists have claimed that the daughter was nine years old and not 12 as the mother claimed. They added that the girl had succumbed to her injuries while she was on her way to Rahim Yar Khan.
The medical superintendent at Daharki taluka hospital, Dr Permanand, told The Express Tribune that, on February 28, the woman brought her daughter with Noor Hassan to the hospital. She left after admitting her daughter for the treatment of burn injuries, he said.
According to him, the woman and Noor Hassan were also injured. "The next day, on March 1, she [the mother] came to the hospital and was admitted," he said. "But since we do not have a burns unit, we referred both [the woman and her daughter] to the Rahim Yar Khan Hospital." Dr Permanand said that she appeared to be around 10 years old.
Despite repeated attempts, SSP Ghotki Saqib Sultan Mehmood could not be reached.
Conflicting statements
The mother claimed that she remained unconscious for around 28 days. On the contrary, her son said during a media address on Monday that she gained consciousness after eight days. Moreover, when asked why the family remained silent for so many days if she had been conscious, Sadiq did not have an explanation.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2015.
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