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A four-member medical team from Civil Hospital in Karachi on Tuesday set aside an earlier medical report after it determined that a teenage girl found hanged inside a home in Karachi's Defence Housing Authority last week was, in fact, murdered.
In a postmortem examination, the Civil Hospital medical team had determined that the death of 17-year-old Fatima was actually caused by strangulation, Additional Police Surgeon Qarar Ahmed Abbasi, a member of the team, told DawnNews on Tuesday.
The four-member team ─ comprising Abbasi, Professor Farhat Mirza, Police Surgeon Ijaz Khokar and Dr Sumayya Syed ─ added that wound marks were found on Fatima's lips and chin, Abbasi added.
After discovering wounds and bruises on her body, Abbasi added, the team had also collected samples to further investigate whether Fatima had been raped.
The new revelations flew in the face of an earlier medical report into the matter.
A medico-legal officer at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) had previously termed Fatima's death a an apparent suicide in her initial report, citing the absence of injury marks on the deceased's body.
However, the medical team at Civil Hospital declared that observation "null and void" in its own version of events.
Case background
Fatima, daughter of Abdul Haq, was found hanged inside a bungalow located on Karachi's Khayaban-i-Badban on Saturday.
Clifton SSP Dr Asad Malhi had told Dawn that the victim had been working as a maid at the home.
She had been living on the first floor of the house while her employers, a couple, were residing on the ground floor.
The house owner, Syed Hasan Mazhar, had said in his statement before the police that usually Fatima woke up at around 11:30 am.
He added that on the day of her death, he had left home for work and travelled a short distance when he received a phone call from his wife, during which she stated that she had gone upstairs to check up on the girl and found her hanging from the ceiling fan. Upon returning home, he had informed the police of the incident and moved the body to JPMC for a medico legal examination.
Imtiaz Ali is a Karachi-based reporter for Dawn with over 25 years of experience in the field. His reporting portfolio encompasses crime, politics, and the provincial legislature, alongside coverage of the courts, government affairs, and the health sector.
