Heinous crime: Step-mother, her sister injured in acid attack

The suspect is a drug addict, police say.

MULTAN: A woman and her sister were taken to Nishtar Hospital in Multan on Thursday after they were attacked with acid allegedly by the former’s step-son, police said.

Police said Sohail Ahmed*, 25, the assailant, was missing since the attack. They said he was apparently a drug addict and had attacked his step-mother after she refused to give him money for narcotics.

A case has been registered on the complaint of the women’s brother. He told police that his sister Zahida Bibi*, a resident of Tatarwala in Jampur, was the second wife. He said after the death of her husband, her step-son Ahmed had been mistreating her.



He said Ahmed would beat her up if she refused to give him money. He said that Ahmed had been a drug addict for four years.

On Wednesday night, he said, Ahmed again asked her for money. When she refused, he left home. However, he returned with two unidentified men after some time and beat Zahida Bibi and her sister Anila Bibi*, who was visiting her. He them threw acid at the women and fled.

Some neighbours took the injured women to the tehsil headquarters hospital, from where they were sent to Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

Doctors treating them said that both the women had 50 per cent burns. In each case, they said, the acid had affected the face, the neck, the chest and the abdomen. They said it would take next 48 hours to see if the women were critical.



City Station House Officer Ghulam Fareed said that preliminary investigations had revealed a property dispute between the assailant and the step-mother. He said Ahmed’s mother had left home after his father married Zahida Bibi. He said his father had transferred most of his property to Zahida Bibi before his death.

Ahmed, the SHO said, had apparently been asking Zahida Bibi to return the property. He said Ahmed had attacked her twice previously, but she had remained unharmed.

The SHO said that a police team was looking for Ahmed and his accomplices. He said they would soon raid Ahmed’s mother’s house.

*Names Have Been Changed To Protect Identity

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2013.