Man attempts suicide ‘to avoid maintenance’

Hospitalised with burns over 80 per cent of body.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

A man was hospitalised on Tuesday with severe burns suffered in an attempted suicide at his first wife’s home near Sakhi Sarwar’s shrine.

Ghulam Farid tried to end his life over maintenance he had been directed to pay to his first wife Haseena Bibi by a civil court.

Farid was referred to Nishter Hospital in Multan after first aid by doctors at Dera Ghazi Khan district headquarters (DHQ) hospital. Doctors at DHQ hospital described his condition as critical. Medical Superintendent Dr Fazal Karim told The Express Tribune that Farid had burns over 80 per cent of his body. He said he was referred to Nishter Hospital for treatment at the burn unit.

Farid had been summoned by a civil court on Tuesday (yesterday) to pay Rs300,000 maintenance to Haseena Bibi. During the hearing in February, the court had directed Farid to pay Rs600,000 to the petitioner, the amount was later slashed by half on Farid’s pleading.

Haseena Bibi had submitted in her petition that Farid had stopped paying maintenance to her after moving with his second wife, Chanan Mai, several years ago. She said while she and Farid were not living together, they had not been divorced.

Talking to The Express Tribune on Tuesday, Haseena Bibi said that before setting himself alight, Farid had asked her to withdraw the petition. “I told him I needed money to feed my children. I am old and cannot earn to sustain six children,” she said. She added three of the children were deaf and dumb.

“He locked himself in a room and burned himself. I was drawn towards it by the smell of smoke coming out of it,” she said. She said she called neighbours who broke the door to rescue him.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.