Woman burning incident: Police to seek permission to exhume body

Man believes his daughter was killed by her in-laws

ABBOTTABAD: Abbottabad police will today (Monday) seek the court’s permission to exhume the body of a woman who had allegedly been burnt to death by her in-laws.

Around two weeks ago, 23-year-old Shumaila Bibi, wife of Qasim, was rushed to a local hospital in Nagri Bala with 80 per cent burn injuries.

Despite efforts by the doctors to save her, she succumbed to her injuries. Her in-laws claimed that she suffered the injuries after a gas cylinder accidently blew up.

However Shumaila’s father, Khalilur Rehman, claimed that since she had married Qasim against his family’s wishes, her in-laws did not like her and used to abuse her. He alleged that to get rid of his daughter, they burnt her and had made up the story of the cylinder blast to mislead the police.

Interestingly, Shumaila’s in-laws reportedly did not allow her autopsy and even managed to seek the consent of her father by securing his signature on a blank piece
of  paper.

However, Rehman filed a complaint of murder with the Donga Gali police against Qasim, his mother Parveen Bibi and brother Naseer. While police have registered a case, the suspects have managed to secure pre-arrest bail from a local court.

Meanwhile, police have decided to complete their investigations and will be approaching a judicial magistrate today (Monday) to seek permission to exhume Shumaila’s dead body and to check how she suffered
her injuries.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2016.