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Middle-aged woman ‘dies for opposing third marriage’

Immedi­ate family says it was an accide­nt; police suspec­t foul play.

By Sehrish Wasif

ISLAMABAD: A nose pin, an earring and broken bangles on the floor told the story of how Fiqa was brutally murdered. Kala Khan, her husband and a barber by profession, might have killed her as she had opposed his idea of a third marriage, some family members believed.

Her children – two sons and three daughters – all of whom are married, were all set to take the body for burial on Tuesday night, just when the police arrived at the spot and took the body to Polyclinic Hospital for postmortem. “The moment Khan heard the police coming, he fled. However, earlier on, he was telling the people who came for condolences that one day everyone has to die,” Rakhsi Bibi*, a close relative of Fiqa, told The Express Tribune.

She said Fiqa was Khan’s first wife and was a domestic worker. She was residing at Bhara Kahu, where she also worked along with her husband, daughters and a daughter-in-law. A few years ago, he had married a woman living near their house, but later divorced her. Now, he wanted to marry another woman. When Fiqa came to know of his intentions, she stopped him, saying he already had a big and settled family.

Earlier on Wednesday, her elder daughter, who lives near their house, got a call from Khan. He asked her to go and check on Fiqa, saying she was not feeling well since the previous night.

“As she opened the door, she found her mother’s body hanging from a fan. She immediately called her maternal uncle and Khan,” Rakshi said.

Another family source, on condition of anonymity, said her maternal uncle, to protect the family from the police and bury her sister peacefully, had taken off her body from the fan. “Her brother took her body to the washroom and dunked her face in a bucket of water, to try and show that she had had an epileptic fit, and had fallen and hit her head,” said the eyewitness.

However, broken bangles scattered inside the washroom suggested otherwise. The family tried to keep the body away and one of her daughters and daughter-in-law gave her a ghusal (ritual bath).

“There were deep scars on the front side of her neck and there were blood stains on her clothes. The family tried to bury the body as soon as possible,” said the source.

Someone from the neighbourhood called the police. The postmortem was carried out under the supervision of Senior Surgeon Dr Tanveer, who is Medico-Legal Officer at Polyclinic Hospital. Initial reports suggest that Fiqa was strangled to death. There were also bruises on her body, which suggest that she had been beaten. Bharu Kahu police Sub Inspector Javed Tanoli said they will take action when the doctors finish the post-mortem report.
Source: The Express Tribune
Date:11/17/2011