By: Fawad Ali
RAWALPINDI: Doctors at Holy Family Hospital are struggling to resuscitate a woman who was admitted to the hospital a week ago after she was allegedly tortured and poisoned by her husband. At present, they are trying to ensure that her hands do not need to be amputated.
Noreen Dil Kabeer, 20, a resident of Durnal village district Chakwal, was brought to the hospital with torture marks on her whole body. Her family members alleged that her husband tortured her and then injected her with a poisonous substance in an attempt to kill her.
The victim married 45-year old schoolteacher Amjad Shehzad in 2009.
It was Shehzad’s second marriage.
Doctors at the hospital said the victim had been given a toxic injection which required them to remove tissue and flesh from both her hands while performing surgery.
The doctors said that although the woman was somehow showing signs of recovery, the infection was severe.
“I found her chained in a room with swollen hands and serious wounds on her body when I visited her house two days after Eid,” said Usman Dil Kabeer, the brother of the victim.
According to him, the victim was first taken to District Headquarters Hospital in Chakwal, from where she was referred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and then to the Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi, where she has been on medication for the last week.
The victim’s family claimed that her husband wanted to marry another woman and was attempting to “silence” Kabeer after she refused to grant him permission.
The family said that although Shehzad had attempted to kill her, the local police registered a simple assault case against him, allowing him to easily get bail before arrest.
There has been no let-up in violence against women this year, with a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report showing that 44 women, seven of whom died, became targets of acid attacks in the country till July, and 44 women, 11 of whom died, were set on fire.
Another 451 women were killed in the name of ‘honour’ till July this year.
