Severely burnt woman fights for life

Siblings say in-laws, husband constantly tortured her.

BAHAWALPUR: As cameras and reporters clamoured over each other for a soundbyte from Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to Hasilpur, a family had brought a badly burnt woman to a hospital in Bahawalpur.

Rehana*, 26, had suffered severe burns and was brought to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), Bahawalpur, in critical condition on Thursday; doctors are still trying to save her life.

In an apparent case of domestic violence, Rehana was allegedly set on fire by her husband Rameez Hassan and his mother Rashida following a family dispute.

According to Rehana’s brother and sister, she had married Hassan five years ago who is the son of their maternal uncle and works as a day-labourer. They have two children, a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son, and lived near Yazman, in Head Rajkan.

They said that Rehana’s in-laws and her husband used to torture their sister on various baseless issues and alleged that on February 2, they had tried to burn her. Dr Aziz, in-charge of the emergency ward at BVH, Bahawalpur, told The Express Tribune that almost 70 per cent of the patient’s body was burnt, including her face and head.

However, he said, the hospital is not equipped to handle this case. “We have asked the family to take the patient to Multan,” he said.

He said that the hospital staff had sent an initial medical report of the burnt patient to the Bahawalpur District Police Officer (DPO) Babar Bakht Quraishi for further investigation.

A case has been registered against Hassan and his mother Rashida. DPO Quraishi told The Express Tribune that mother-in-law Rashida claimed that this was a case of suicide.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2011.