By: ASHRAF JAVED
LAHORE: The 23-year-old mother who killed two children at a Johar Town house has revealed that she committed the double-murder as she could not bear her children being raised at a brothel.
In an exclusive chat with The Nation on Friday, Bissma said that she killed her kids to expose the real face of her in-laws as she was living at a brothel rather than a residence.
Earlier, the mother of two had told police investigators that she murdered her eight-month-old baby, Yousaf, and two-year-old daughter Minahal over poverty.
“I should be hanged but those who compelled me to do this should be punished as well,” told the visibly depressed Bissma. A group of police investigators along with the accused woman and forensic experts visited the crime scene. They were seen collecting fingerprints, circumstantial evidences, and recording statements of other family members. The forensic experts have also seized the water tub used to drown the girl to death.
“We were starved of food for the last three days. My children were ill and my in-laws did not give me a single penny for medicines.” She said that her in-laws used to torture her children. “They are all characterless and involved in immoral activities,” she continued while referring to her husband’s five sisters, who are also residing in the same house.
Having intermediate qualification, the killer of her kids blamed her in-laws for constant teasing and torture. “They made my life miserable. I had no other option except to kill my kids to get rid of this prostitution den.” The only fault of my husband was that he was an unemployed. She believes that she has successfully exposed the entire family of her in-laws not only in the media but also in the society. The family had migrated to Johar Town from the Lahore Red Light area several years ago, police investigators said.
Local residents say the house (228-E1) was, in fact, an underground brothel, raided by police at least on two different occasions in the past. Sunny Khan, husband of the killer, his five sisters and three brothers were residing in the same house. “With sunset everyday, they used to start their activities. We frequently noticed unfamiliar faces entering or leaving the place,” Muhammad Zaheer, who runs a real-estate shop right in front of the house, told this reporter. They are not good people. None of the male members do any sort of work. They had established a “hot red chili café” in front of the same house but that was closed down after repeated police raids in the past.
On the other hand, Anam Bibi says that her brother Sunny was living separately but in the same house along with his wife Bissma and two kids. She also rejected reports that the woman killed her kids because of extreme poverty. She said that the police are backing the killers while their family is being humiliated in the local media. “The double murder was premeditated by Bissma and her husband. They committed the crime to defame us,” she said. Sunny started speaking the language of his wife since they were married. He was totally in control of his wife, she said in the same breath.
According to Sunny, his brothers and sisters had occupied his house and also refused to share the income of rent being collected from properties registered under his name. Sunny’s father had two wives; one died and the other is seriously sick, living in the same house.
Though it was one-Kanal house located in the middle-class neighbourhood but the building was in shambles. Tattered curtains, old-fashioned furniture, and unclean walls of the room where the couple had been residing along with their kids were portraying worst type of poverty.
In the presence of police investigators and media crews, Bissma and her sisters-in-law were seen levelling serious allegations against each other in a typical style. At one-point, it seemed they even forget what had happened as they charge-sheeted each other. Then a police officer intervened and asked a policewoman to shift the accused lady to the woman police station.
Allegedly the poverty-stricken mother strangled her eight-month-old boy shortly after drowning two-year-old daughter to death in a water tub on Wednesday.
Police have registered a double-murder case against 23-year-old Bissma and her 29-year-old husband, Sunny Khan. The mother has already confessed to the killings. She said that she removed a bandage of Muhammad Yousaf, who underwent circumcise four days ago, and strangulated him with the help of the dressing.
Initial investigations have confirmed that two-year-old Minahal appeared to have been dipped in a water tub.
The killer of her own kids and the complainant in this much-hyped case are already at odds. Chances are slim that the corruption-riddled police will bring the real culprits to justice by submitting enough evidences in the courts. And even if the police do so, the complainant has the right to withdraw the case at any stage after a plea bargain.
