Mother tortures two minors in ‘exorcism’

Police say victims were tied with ropes and also burnt with hot iron rods

LAHORE: Two minors were tortured by none other than their own mother as part of an ‘exorcism exercise’ in Qila Gujjar Singh on Thursday.

According to the police, the grandmother, an aunt and a relative of the children were accomplices of the prime suspect, identified as Anita Bibi. The victims of this bizarre incident were identified as three-year-old Mariam and two-year-old George.

Police said Anita shifted the children to her sister’s house where they were locked inside a room in Qila Gujjar Singh Quarters. The room was lit with candles and incense sticks, while the victims were tied to a bed, the cops said. They added that a goat was also brought in and tied in the middle of the room. “The victims were tied from their necks with ropes and were brutally tortured.”

The father of the victims, Simon Saleem, said he would leave home in the morning and return home at night. “My wife had shifted the children to her sister’s house and I had not met them for the last three days.”

Saleem told the police that when he asked his wife to bring them home, she would beat about the bush. One day, he personally went to his sister-in-law’s house where he saw the children being physically abused.”

When he tried to stop them, the suspects resisted, Saleem told the police. However, he somehow managed to rescue the children and shifted them to Mayo Hospital. “Doctors also identified the marks on the children’s neck and said they were burnt with hot iron rods,” he said.

The suspects managed to flee from the scene, but the mother of the children was arrested late Thursday night.

SP Civil Lines Dost Muhammad said legal action has been taken on the request of Saleem.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2019.