THATTA: A nine-year-old student was found dead in his hostel room at a seminary in Sujawal town under mysterious circumstances on Monday.

According to class teacher Maulvi Ismail Memon of the Madressah Qasmia and several of his students, Abdul Qadeer Rind, son of Ghulam Hussain Rind, left the playground adjacent to the seminary and went to his room in the hostel. They said when they knocked at the door of the room, they did not get any response. They said they broke open the door and found Qadeer lying dead inside, they added.

The body was taken to the Sujawal Civil Hospital where medical superintendent Dr Ameer Shah examined it and said there were no marks of torture on it. He concluded that the student died a natural death. However, Qadeer’s parents after receiving the body told journalists at the hospital that they were not satisfied with the doctor’s conclusion. His father, Ghulam Hussain Rind, wondered why the body of their son was handed over to them without a post-mortem examination having been performed at the hospital. He apprehended that Qadeer might have been murdered. He also alleged that the hospital administration took his signature on some blank papers instead of the prescribed document for the handing over of the body.

Meanwhile, the Sujawal SSP has constituted a three-member committee to look into the matter.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2016