Woman burned by husband dies
KARACHI: A 35-year-old woman, mother of three, who was burned allegedly by one of her three former husbands early this month, died of burns at a government hospital on Monday.
Bilal Colony police said that Saima, a divorcee and resident of New Karachi, received 60 per cent burns at her house 3/10 in Sector 5-D on March 3 when her former husband, Nadim, sprayed spirit on her and set fire to her. The suspect fled and is still untraceable.
She was shifted to the Burns Section of the Civil Hospital in a critical condition and the police registered a case (FIR 61/2009) against the suspect under Section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code for attempting to kill the woman on the complaint of the victim’s mother, Sarwat Begum.
The SP of New Karachi, Dr Mohammed Farooq, told Dawn that the suspect had come out of jail after serving a term in a criminal case some six months ago. “The victim who had a daughter from the suspect divorced him when he was in jail,” he said, adding that the suspect wanted to remarry the victim and he attempted to kill her when she declined.
The SP said that the police had mounted a search for the suspect.
A member of the victim’s family, who did not wish to be named, told Dawn that the victim’s first husband, Jamal, was a friend of the suspect who married her after the woman divorced her first husband.
She said that Saima was the mother of a 12-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter from her first husband when her first marriage broke up. “Later, Saima married the suspect, a Bengali-speaking man,” she added.
She said that the couple became the parents of a son before Nadim was arrested and convicted in a criminal case some five years back. “Saima divorced the interned man and married an elderly man some two years ago,” she said.
The woman said that the victim also divorced her third husband after six months into marriage. “She and her three children from two husbands were living with her mother and brother,” she added.
The area SHO, Inspector Aminur Reham, said that the suspect wanted to remarry the victim and he attempted to kill her after she turned down his proposal. Meanwhile, the provincial government has provided a two-room apartment in Landhi area for the victim’s children.
Officials said that government would also bear the educational expenses of the children.
They said that the apartment was being allotted in the name of the children’s maternal grandmother and the children were also admitted to a local government school.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/17/2009
” 
” 
” 
” 
