Manhunt for faith healer after woman hammers nail in head

Victim returned home, hammered nail in her head

The Peshawar police took notice of a bizarre incident on Tuesday related to a faith healer hammering a nail in a woman’s head in a bid for her to give birth to a baby boy.

Pictures of the woman went viral over social media, prompting City Police Chief Abbas Ahsan to take notice of the incident. He directed SP City Ateeq Shah to trace the victim and the faith healer.

“The process of identifying the victim from the CCTV footage as well as from the computer entry data is underway,” Ahsan said, adding that a special team had been constituted to investigate the case.

According to hospital administration, the victim was bleeding when she was brought to the health facility and was administered first aid before being taken to the operation theatre.

Doctors were not clear whether a faith healer had hammered a nail into her skull or if she did it herself.

A doctor on the condition of anonymity said the hammered nail had penetrated the victim’s skull.

It is pertinent to mention that attempts were also made to remove the nail from the patient’s head at her home. Doctors successfully removed it after an operation.

According to the preliminary investigation, the victim’s husband had threatened to leave her if she gave birth to a fourth girl.

Hospital staff said the woman visited a faith healer out of fear who gave her an amulet to wear along with a nail. The victim returned home and hammered the nail in her head. Her family members shifted her to the hospital after finding her in a horrible condition.

Sources also quoted the victim as saying that she would get an ultrasound after sometime.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2022.