Honour killing suspected in woman’s death

A 22-year-old girl said to have died of electrocution, authorities suspect her death was a case of honour killing.

BAHAWALPUR/MULTAN: A 22-year-old girl in Bahawalpur district is said to have died of electrocution on Saturday, but authorities suspect her death was a case of honour killing.

Police said that Saima, who lived in the rural town of Hakra, near Bahawalpur, wanted to marry Dilawar Manzoor. However, knowing that her family did not approve of , they eloped to Karachi.

However, Saima’s father Abdul Majeed contacted Dilawar’s father and said that if his daughter was brought back, he will marry her off in a proper manner, saying her elopement had caused him “great embarrassment”.

Dilawar’s father brought Saima back to her parents’ house on Friday, where her parents said that they would soon discuss the details of her wedding.

Meanwhile, they fixed her wedding with another man and also asked the local panchayat to decide how to ‘punish’ the girl for her ‘errant’ behaviour. The panchayat ‘decreed’ that Saima should be killed by electrocution. On Saturday, Saima was found dead.

According to Saima’s elder sister Asma, she committed suicide but police and hospital sources say there was evidence that she was subjected to electric shock.

Bahawalpur’s DPO Babar Bakht told The Express Tribune that the SHO of the Musafir Khana Police Station Afzal Lodhi exhumed the body and sent it for a post-mortem. According to initial findings, Saima’s death had occurred either by poisoning or electrocution, said Dr Saima Talha of the Mubarakpur centre. More details were not available till the filing of this report.

An FIR has been lodged  against seven persons, including the victim’s parents. Saima’s mother, Sardaraan Bibi, had earlier filed an application in a Bahawalpur court to stop the autopsy. The police have arrested Saima’s father and her maternal uncles.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2011.