Outlawing in-laws: How about sedatives for breakfast?

Rabia served drugged milk at the dining table and thirteen people, including her husband and in-laws

JHANG:


A woman administered intoxicated milk to her in-laws and fled the house with cash and gold ornaments on Sunday morning.


Police officials have received mixed accounts of the incident. According to Mohi wala residents, Chak 219GB resident Rabia recently married her uncle’s son Shaukat. “It was an arranged marriage with her cousin but the family treated her horribly. Her husband slapped her in public and all the neighbours heard her being beaten. We even reported the incident to the police but they said they couldn’t interfere in a domestic matter,” Rabia’s neighbour Shireen Bibi said.

Another neighbour told the police that Rabia was a spoilt girl and was only being ‘disciplined’ by her in-laws. “I have known this family for years. There was no beating or abuse but that girl was headstrong and she often needed to be told to obey her elders,” said Shaukat’s uncle Asad Sultan. “She has disgraced the entire family by her actions. She stole from the house and has run away with some boy,” he alleged. According to a house servant, on Sunday morning Rabia served her in-laws and her husband breakfast and soon after the entire family was rendered unconscious. “This is a joint family and there are lots of people in the house all the time. She drugged 13 people in order to escape,” she told police. “I am glad she has left this place because she was treated very badly by everyone and she often told me she would kill herself if she couldn’t escape,” she added. On Sunday morning Rabia served drugged milk at the dining table and thirteen people, including her mother-in-law, father-in-law and her husband were admitted to the local hospital following the incident.


“When I came back to clear the dining people everyone was asleep and I told the neighbours. They called the ambulance,” the housemaid said.
The family members were shifted to the DHQ hospital, where Dr Umar Farooq said that they were all in recovery. “They weren’t poisoned but they were drugged with a heavy dosage and some of them are suffering from a stomach infection,” he told reporters.

Rabia’s father-in-law Rashid Sultan said that he was determined to find the girl and have her arrested. “She has run away with a neighbour and was having an affair. All the charges against my family are false and unfounded. She stole from us,” he told police.

According to the Sultan family, Rabia stole Rs200,000 in cash and also took several gold ornaments from the house.

Jhang Saddar Police has registered a case and is searching for the girl’s whereabouts. Saddar Station House Officer Jahangir Asadullah said that a detailed investigation was being conducted into the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2011.
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