‘Distressed’ woman drowns minor daughter in Karachi sea

BBA degree-holder mother claims her husband and family told her they couldn't keep her in their house

KARACHI: The body of a minor girl, who was thrown into the sea by her mother, was retrieved by rescue teams a day after the incident on Monday. The mother, meanwhile, was taken into custody by the police, who have registered a murder case against her.

The incident occurred at around 3:30pm on Monday, when Shakeela, the wife of Muhammad Rashid Shah, allegedly threw her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter into the deep end of the sea near the Farhan Shaheed Park in Defence Phase VIII.

Realising what she had done, Shakeela started shouting for help. On hearing her cries, people who were present nearby called the police and informed them of the incident. The police were told that a woman had drowned her daughter and was trying to commit suicide.

When the police reached the site, Shakeela, who had again walked to the far end of the ledge, told them that she had killed her daughter. Lifeguards and fishermen, who were present nearby, were immediately summoned to try and rescue the minor girl, but their attempts were in vain.

Sometime later, the police escorted Shakeela to the Sahil Police Station. She seemed depressed and worried, said SHO Syeda Ghazala. Her family was summoned and her husband, Shah, who works as a technician at a private hospital, explained that his wife was suffering from depression and took medication for it.



Mother's statement

On the other hand, Shakeela, a resident of Golimar, said in her statement that she married Shah in 2011 and was blessed with a daughter in 2016. She added that her husband had told her he could not keep her and her daughter in his house.

Shakeela had then gone to her parents' house, but they too had turned her away, saying they had married her off. The mother said that she used to beg to be allowed to spend nights, sometimes at her parents' house and sometimes at her husband's.

She said that she couldn't imagine any future for her or her daughter and her life was a torment. She added that she couldn't find any way out of her circumstances other than taking the extreme step to drown her own daughter in the sea and commit suicide after that.

She claimed that she did all this out of distress. She didn't have any place to keep her daughter and wanted to commit suicide as well.

The police arrested Shakeela and after registering her daughter's murder case no. 9/2019 on behalf of the state, they began the investigation. Sahil Police Station SHO Syeda Ghazala said that the arrested woman is educated and has a BBA degree.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2019.