Acid victim dies after 25 days in hospital

KARACHI: Maria Shah, the 22-year-old midwife from Shikarpur who suffered extensive burns last month, died here on Tuesday morning – nearly a month after acid was thrown on her face by a man whom she had refused to marry.

“Ms Shah’s whole body was affected by acid burns. Despite our best efforts, we failed to save her life,” said a senior official of the Civil Hospital’s Burns Centre, where she was admitted on Jan 16.

“The body was formally handed over to her family. They returned to their home town in an ambulance provided by the hospital,” said Dabeer-ur-Rahman, Executive Director of the Burns Centre.

“The victim was brought to the hospital in a very critical condition a day after the incident.”

Ms ShahÂ’s face was disfigured after acid was hurled at her by Arsalan Sanjrani at a private clinic in Shikarpur where she had been working as a lady health worker.

Initially, the young woman was taken to a local hospital, which later referred her to the Burns Centre.

According to Arsalan, he was a matriculate and in love with Maria since school days. He claimed he provided her free rides to school for years on his rickshaw. He said he committed the crime after she refused to marry him.

The Supreme Court has summoned Shikarpur DPO Khadim Hussain Rind to appear before it “with facts”.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/11/2009