Torture victim discharged from hospital unwillingly

Hospital admin claims her foetus is alive and out of danger.

ABBOTABAD:

A housemaid who was allegedly subjected to severe torture by the police was discharged from the Benazir Bhutto (formerly district headquarters) Hospital against her will on Thursday. The woman, belonging to Christian community, is five months pregnant.

Salma Emmanuel, a resident of Kunj Jadeed Mohalla of garrison town Abbottabad who worked as a maid at Ghazala Riaz’s house, was picked up by the City police on suspicion of her involvement in a robbery at her employer’s house. Her husband was nominated in the first information report (FIR) lodged by Riaz.

According to the victim, the police picked her husband following the robbery, while she was called to the police station from noon to sunset for four consecutive days without any interrogation.

“The police tortured me mentally during the first three days,” she said. She was summoned on Sunday  (November 6) at around 3pm, where Inspector Nazia and two female police personnel punched, kicked and beat her with canes for eight hours, forcing her to confess that she and her husband were involved in the robbery.

When her condition deteriorated and she fell unconscious, the police officer called her brother-in-law and sent her home along with him, where her condition worsened. Her family then took her to the hospital, where the medical officer on duty confirmed that the woman’s body bore marks of torture and her foetus was also in danger due to her critical condition.

However, she was discharged from the hospital on Thursday even though she claimed she was suffering from severe body pain.

When this correspondent visited the victim, she was crying with pain in the surgical ward unwilling to be discharged. She accused the hospital administration of being complicit in her torture.

When approached for comments, Deputy Superintendent of Police Aziz Afridi confirmed that the woman was picked up for quizzing in the robbery case, but he rejected the allegation that she had been tortured by the police.

Meanwhile, Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Aamir said that Salma was given proper treatment at the hospital.

“According to her ultrasound report, the foetus is alive and out of danger; a medical board comprising of a doctor and a gynaecologist found her perfectly fit for discharge,” said Executive District Officer Dr Zafeer Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2011.