April 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429

SAHIWAL, April 15: A 13-year-old girl, of Jahaz Ground, died at Sahiwal District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital on Monday leaving many questions unanswered. The mother of the deceased claimed her daughter died of rape by a neighboring boy. But doctors said the girl died of torture and low blood pressure. ‘S’ was admitted to the emergency ward of the DHQ hospital on Monday at 11:30am and she died at 8pm.

Her blood pressure was very low because she was frightened, said a rescuer with 1122, who shifted the girl to hospital. He said his office received a call from the girl’s neighbour to shift her to hospital.Dr Riaz of DHQ hospital said when ‘S’ was admitted to hospital, her condition was not good. Her blood pressure was low and she had some injuries in stomach. “We after preliminary treatment shifted her to the medical ward, where senior doctors attended her properly but her condition deteriorated gradually and she died,” Dr Riaz said.

The deceased was living with her elder sister in Jahaz Ground, while her parents live in Karachi. A neighbor said that Azra, deceased’s mother, had arrived from Karachi three days ago. On Monday, she caught the girl with Amin in bed. It maddened her and she started beating both the boy and the girl. He said after hearing the noise, boy’s mother came there to rescue Amin. Then, Azra left the girl unconscious and went to the City police station for reporting the matter of ‘rape’ to police. In her absence, neighbors informed Rescue 1122 to shift the girl to hospital.

Talking to Dawn, Azra said her daughter was died of rape.

On Tuesday, police lodged a first information report against Amin. City station house officer Chaudhry Akbar Ali said police would look into both possibilities – torture and rape.

‘HONOUR’: A man killed his sister for ‘honour’ in Tooutwala, near Noor Shah. Muhammad Ali aged 25 suspected his sister Shahnaz had an affair with Shaukat Ali. He shot her dead and fled. Police registered a case. — Shafiq Butt