Sania Zehra case: Hanging confirmed, pregnancy dismissed

The autopsy report of Sania Zehra from Multan has been released, confirming that she was not pregnant while the cause of her death as asphyxia by hanging.

Ligature marks on her neck are consistent with hanging, says the report.

The report clearly stated that the hyoid bone was intact, and there were no visible signs of injury or violence.

However, samples from the stomach, liver, and spleen have been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for further analysis.

Zehra’s body has been exhumed by the police. She was allegedly murdered by her husband in Multan. Sania’s father Syed Asad Abbas Shah claimed in FIR that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He stated that his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the alleged murder as a suicide, contrary to the crime scene.

The police’s investigation also revealed that the woman married at the age of 14 and had a history of suicidal tendencies in her family, with her brother having died by suicide six months prior.

Sania’s father, Syed Abbas Shah, told BBC in an interview that his daughter’s death is painted as a suicide while it was a murder. 

“The police should investigate and tell me whether my daughter was killed or she committed suicide and if she did commit suicide, then they should investigate why she did it.”

He added further that the police should investigate what the in-laws did that forced his daughter to commit suicide. “I want a fair and transparent investigation into my daughter’s death,” Asad stressed.

He told BBC that the incident took place on June 9, but the police did not registered an FIR rightaway. After much protest FIR got registered on June 11. 

The father claimed that so far the accused, his family and no employee of the house has been arrested.

On the other hand, DIG Multan Sadiq Ali Dogar claims that the police had detained people from the in-laws on the first day but they were released on the request of Sania’s father.

He (the father) said that we do not want to file an FIR, they (in-laws) should be released,” he shared father’s statement. “As the matter went to social media, the in-laws ran away in fear, but we are trying hard to catch them.

Background

A 20-year-old pregnant mother of two, identified as Sania Zehra, was found dead on Monday (July 8) in Multan. The news took over social media, getting widely shared.

She was allegedly murdered by her husband.

The victim’s father told the police that he received a call on Tuesday at 9 am from a police official, who asked him to head to his daughter’s residence. There they found the woman hanging from a ceiling fan.

The FIR said that when the forensic specialist arrived at the scene and tried to untie the noose around the victim’s neck, it opened up quite easily. However, a doctor present at the scene said that the victim had died at 6 pm that day.

The complainant quoted the doctor as saying that the victim’s jaw was found broken, adding that marks of rope were also found on the victim’s feet. Signs of assault were also visible on the victim’s ribs and elbows while both her eyes were bruised.

The FIR declared that the victim was five to six months pregnant at the time of her death.

The police said that the suspect, the husband, had fled the scene and did not even inform the family of their daughter’s death.

The complainant told the police that his daughter’s husband had lied to the victim’s family at the time of their marriage and was already married to another woman.

The family filed a case in the family court against the suspect; however, the case was eventually retracted.

Husband pressurizing for money

The husband kept on threatening his wife and pressured her to sell the house she owned.

It also said that the suspect had visited the complainant before the victim’s death and had threatened that he would kill her if the property in her name was not transferred to him.

The father said that his daughter was murdered by her husband, who was after her property and the matter was being “portrayed as a suicide”.

Social media speculations

The information above was what Tasur Subhani and Imran Gabol reported for Dawn. However, social media has few other speculations with a page dedicated to seek justice for the victim who is identified as Syeda Sania Zehra. She, according to that page, belongs to an influential background, her father being a political figure from Multan, Syed Asad Abbas Shah.

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The husband, Syed Ali Raza and mother-in-law Azra Jeewan Shah are said to be complicit in the murder. The mother-in-law allegedly told the victim’s family wheb they came to pick daughter’s body, “Don’t make noise and take your daughter home.”

An investigation has started upon the instructions of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Finance Punjab Sohail Shaukat Butt and Chairperson Women Protection Authority MPA Hina Parvez Butt met the victim’s family in Multan.

Butt confirmed that a complete investigation into the matter would be carried out.