Pregnant woman, daughter poisoned

Ramzan and his wife were facing financial constraints which resulted in altercations, says father

FAISALABAD: A pregnant woman and her 3-year-old daughter were allegedly poisoned to death by her in-laws which included her husband, father-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law over a petty issue on Thursday night in Gojra, Toba Tek Singh.

Police Station Gojra Saddar Station House Officer Asad Ali Shah told the Express Tribune that Nazir Ahmad, a resident of Chak 104-GB and father of the deceased Zubaida Bibi, alleged in a written complaint that his daughter, Zubaida, was married to Muhammad Ramzan of Chak 95-JB about five years ago. He said that Ramzan was a daily wage earner and both were facing financial constraints owing to which they got indulged in altercations and trading of harsh words. He said that Ramzan tortured her without any rhyme and reason.

“My daughter gave a birth to one baby girl, Amina, about 3 years ago and now she has been pregnant for almost seven months. About two weeks ago, my daughter was again beaten up due to which she left her husband and started living with me,” father of the deceased mentioned in his complaint.

SHO said that as per the deceased father, Muhammad Yaqoob, father-in-law of his daughter, came to his house and took her wife back to home after reconciliation.

However, Ramzan started beating her again when she protested that Muhammad Yaqoob (Father-in-law), Muhammad Ismail (Brother-in-law), Nasreen Bibi (sister-in-law) and Ramzan were making a plan to poison her and her three-year-old daughter, the SHO said.

“Zubaida was seven-month pregnant when her condition deteriorated, all the accused took them to Allied Hospital Faisalabad in a car. The father of the deceased, Nazir, claimed that they followed them and fled away after abandoning Zubaida and her daughter in the hospital where both of them died,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2017.