The authorities on Saturday exhumed the body of the nine-year-old child maid who had been found dead at the mansion of a religious personality in Ranipur town of Sindh.
The girl had been buried without a post-mortem after the local police did not issue a medical letter for her examination prior to burial. The officer was subsequently suspended for misconduct and arrested along with the doctor, who issued a fake medical report on the cause of the girl's death.
On Saturday, a team of doctors from the Peoples Medical College (PMC) Hospital in Nawabshah comprising Dr Aqeel Qureshi, Dr Amanullah Bhangwar and lady doctor Samina Fatima, escorted by the police and led by Judicial Magistrate Sobodhero, travelled to the Muhammad Khan Farriro graveyard in the child's native village.
They cordoned off the graveyard, and locals were not allowed to enter it while they worked. However, the child's father was allowed to witness the exhumation.
After removing the girl's body, the medical team examined the corpse and collected samples to ascertain the cause of her death and determine whether the deceased was tortured.
They examined marks on the child's body and noted the condition of the body as per the existing protocols and policies.
Shah denies police confessional
Separately, the key accused in the case, Pir Asad Shah, was presented before a local magistrate in Naushero Feroze.
During his hearing before the magistrate, he refuted a confessional statement he allegedly gave to the police in which he allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting the child maid and later killing her while in a state of heavy intoxication.
Standing before the magistrate, he said he had nothing to do with the girl's death.
Rights activists want anti-terror provisions inserted
Talking about the entire episode, human rights activist Faiz Ahmed Chandio of Naushero Feroze demanded the inclusion of sections of the anti-terror law in the FIR against the suspect, apart from sections relating to illegal confinement and forced labour.
He said everyone who has heard of the case has felt the grief of the tragedy that befell the child and the inhumanness of the local pir and his spouse.
Another child maid details violence
Meanwhile, Ujala, another child maid who used to work at Pir Asad Shah's mansion but escaped, detailed her torture and how she was made to work day and night while being paid just Rs4,000.
Ujala also used to work in the haveli of Pir Asad Shah (Ranipur). Asad's wife used to torture and threaten her. Only 4 thousand were paid for working day and night. Today, after working for two and a half years, she escaped from the mansion and reached her home. #JusticeForFatima pic.twitter.com/uR7HhXad3i
— THE SINDHI NARRATIVE (@TSNARRATIVES) August 18, 2023