Woman allegedly murders two minor boys

A woman took her brother-in-law’s children and threw them into a canal following a domestic dispute on Saturday.

A search for the children’s bodies is ongoing and police have arrested the accused. According to the details, a woman named Shakeela, a resident of Islampura area, used to quarrel with her brother-in-law over an amulet. An argument broke out in the house on Saturday, after which Shakeela picked up her brother-in-law’s two sons, aged between six and 10 years and threw them into a canal near Akhtarabad due to which both children drowned.

As soon as the incident was reported, SHO Arsalan Joya arrested Shakeela. DPO Faisal Gulzar has taken notice of the incident and sought a report.

According to rescue in-charge Zafar Iqbal, an operation has been launched which will continue until the victims are found.

Incidents of violence against children have surged in Punjab. Infanticide by drowning occurred in two cases from Faisalabad in 2020 and another in Mianwali from June 2021.

Both were covered by The Express Tribune. In Faisalabad, an unidentified woman threw her newborn baby into a canal, while separately a six-year-old boy was drowned by his paternal uncle. While the accused woman fled the scene, the accused man was arrested. In Mianwali, a man drowned his newborn niece, considering her a harbinger of bad luck. He was subsequently arrested.

On March 8, A man pumped four bullets into the body of his seven-day-old daughter in Nurpur Mohalla of Mianwali.

The accused, Shahzeb Khan, had been married two years ago and Allah had blessed him with a baby girl, Jannat, born seven days ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2022.