Teenage domestic aide found hanged in Karachi's DHA was murdered, confirm doctors

Senior MLO says torture marks found on the girl's face, lips and chest

Doctors confirmed on Tuesday that a 17-year-old domestic aide found hanged at a house in Defence House Authority (DHA) Karachi on Saturday was actually murdered.

A four-member medical board at the Civil Hospital Karachi conducted an autopsy on the the body of Fatima and told reporters that it was not a case of suicide, Express News reported.

"The girl was tortured to death, " Dr Karar Hussain, a senior medico-legal officer MLO who was part of the panel, told reporters.

"Torture marks were found on the girl's face, lips and chest," he added.

"However, samples have to been sent to laboratory to ascertain if the girl was sexually assaulted or not."

The medical board also expressed its reservations over the performance of the officers investigating the case and decided that the crime scene should be examined again.



The medical board was formed to conduct an autopsy again following protests by the girl's parents. Police, quoting an earlier autopsy report, had claimed that it was a case of suicide.

According to the Fatima's parents, she was tortured to death by her employers who live on Khayaban-e-Badar. However, police claimed that the girl had committed suicide.

Carrying the body of the girl, her family staged a sit-in outside the Gizri police station and demanded action against the employer.
South SSP Javed Akbar Riaz told The Express Tribune that Fatima was working in bungalow located in Phase VI of DHA, and was found hanging from a ceiling fan.

“The house owner works at a private company and lives at the bungalow with his wife. They had provided a room to Fatima at the same house,” Riaz said, adding that the deceased was shifted to Jinnah hospital where medico-legal findings confirmed that she committed suicide. The teenager’s mother is Burmese and father Bengali.

Meanwhile, Fatima father, who lives in Ali Akbar Shah muhallah of Ibrahim Hyderi, said it was a premeditated murder and there were torture marks on his daughter’s body.

“She [Fatima] called us last Friday night and said she was going on a picnic. When we asked about money, she said the house owner had arranged for it. Now, we have received the news of her death,” said the teenager’s father, adding that the employer used to give his daughter extra money and recently gifted her a smartphone without his wife’s knowledge.

“There are clear torture marks on her body, but after receiving a bribe police have given a statement in favour of the house owner,” he claimed, appealing to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the incident.