Punjab

Homicide or suicide?: Woman found hanging in cow shed

Police suspect that Tasleem was murdered by her family.

Express June 09, 2011

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

Police officials are investigating a possible homicide, after a married woman’s body was found hanging by a rope in a livestock shed on Monday evening.

According to police officials, Moza Shahpur village resident Muhammad Yar Numberdar’s 24-year-old daughter Tasleem Bibi’s body was found in a livestock shed on Monday evening. “I just walked in to feed the cows and saw her hanging there. I immediately called her father and brother but they didn’t want to call the police,” said a stable hand.

Tasleem Bibi’s father Rab Nawaz and husband Siraj Ahmed declared the case to be a suicide and tried to bury her before the police arrived. The family’s neighbours alerted police about the incident before the men could bury Tasleem. “We fear that this may not have been a suicide case because the entire family tried to cover it up. They would have buried her and no one would have known if the servant hadn’t told us,” said Nawaz’s neighbour Kamran.

Abadpur Nazir Solangi Station House Officer (SHO) Arif Zaki reached the scene to investigate and sent the girl’s body to the local THQ hospital for an autopsy. Police officials said that they would wait for the results of the autopsy before making any pronouncements on the case. “However, we have filed the case and we will commence formal proceedings following the results of the post mortem,” Zaki said.

According to Dr Mujahid Kamran at the DHQ Hospital, Tasleem Bibi was pregnant and her body bore signs of abuse. “We cannot confirm yet if this was a suicide or homicide but the woman was severely abused and her body bore marks of torture,” he told police.

Tasleem Bibi also had a two-old-baby. Her father-in-law, Muhammad Yar, is the lumberdar of the area and is well known in the village. Police said that the entire family was eager to drop the matter and did not want a case registered. “Even the girl’s father has asked us not to file the case. We are going to wait for the report to proceed with the investigation,” Zaki said.

Neighbours of the family said that Tasleem and her husband had lots of domestic problems and she had tried to leave him several times but always returned. “She kept leaving but her father forced her to return each time,” Tasleem’s cousin told police officials. Superintendent Police Sheraz Nazeer has ordered the Abadpur police to investigate the incident and collect all the necessary evidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.

COMMENTS (5)

A Rehman | 13 years ago | Reply Easier said than done. Many woman do have to give up their hard-won careers and ambitions after they have children and find there are very few childcare options available. The lucky few with supportive families nearby get the help they need. Others have to make huge personal sacrifices to ensure their children are looked after properly. Daycare centers at the workplace would attract the best people for the job, regardless of gender, and enable them to stay the course.

jamil moiz | 13 years ago | Reply why does this article have so few facebook shares and twitter retweets?? come on people share this article so more parents and girls don't make this mistake.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

saad naseer | 13 years ago | Reply The only way women will get their rights and status in society is by start divorcing husbands who treat them like trash.As long as wives/girlfriends are addicted to their partner's money they'll remain his slave.And the slave's master does as he pleases. what women have to do is to get their complete education and get lifelong careers,otherwise they are just leaving themselves at the mercy of their brothers,husbands or cousins.if a woman is financially independent only then can she have the courage to stand up for her rights and confront her abuser.

muhammad amjad theba | 13 years ago | Reply @faraz siddique: Our girls deserve to take a part of the blame as they give up their education and their jobs when they get married and think that now we'll easily live off the earnings of our husbands for the rest of our lives.If you give up everything and hand over all power to your 'majazi khuda' then obviously he'll feel all powerful and abuse you. i've met too many girls in my college and university days whose sole mission in life was to land some rich guy off whose 'kamai' these freeloading girls would then live for the rest of their lives.our girls have no ambition or will to be surgeons or engineers,bankers etc. our girls make lame excuses that my husband doesn't allow me to work,well then if he doesn't allow and makes your decisions for you,then leave him,get a divorce,why are you wasting your life for an insecure man who feels threatened if his wife earns money.

faraz siddique | 13 years ago | Reply see,returning back to the abuser doesn't save you.All the mothers,fathers,sisters and brothers who force their daughters or sisters to go back to an abusive husband should be ashamed of themselvs.by going back to an abusive husband or by not leaving him in the first place you show him how pathetically weak and dependent on him you are,this gives him more power over you as he knows that this girl is going nowhere no matter how much i abuse her. the only way the mentality of our men will change is when more and more women start to leave abusive,unfaithful husbands.

Replying to X