Murder-Suicide Bid: Woman, five daughters hospitalised

LAHORE: A woman attempted to kill her five daughters and then herself by drinking pesticide in Sundar on Monday. While all the victims survived, the condition of the mother and two minors is said to be critical. Police said that the woman had been frustrated because of an unending financial crisis as her husband was a manual labourer. On Monday morning, the woman had a quarrel with her husband and got extremely frustrated. She drank the poisonous liquid used for agricultural spray and also made her daughters drink the pesticide. When the condition of the victims deteriorated, they were shifted to the Jinnah Hospital, where doctors termed the condition of the mother and two daughters critical. Separately, a man bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer at their house in Millat Park. Police said the accused named Murtaza was a drug addict and often quarrelled with his wife Ruqayya Bibi. On Sunday night, in a fit of anger he hit his wife with a hammer repeatedly on the head, killing the mother of two on the spot. Police have arrested the suspect and seized the murder weapon.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2017.