MUZAFFARABAD: A woman allegedly killed her husband and two children in the outskirts of Rawalakot on Wednesday.

The suspect first denied that she was involved in the killings and later confessed to her crime, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Poonch, Chaudhry Mohammad Amin. The incident happened in Haari Hussain Kot Village, in the jurisdiction of the Rawalakot City police station.

The victims were identified as 45-year-old Mohammad Tariq and his children, nine-year-old Mahnoor and six-year-old Bilal.

The SSP told Dawn that an application was lodged with the police by one Mohammad Arif, a cousin of Mohammad Tariq at about 2am on Thursday on the basis of which an FIR was registered under sections 302, 324, 337 and 436 of the penal code.

Mr Arif said in his application that he was told at about 11:20pm on Wednesday that Mohammad Tariq’s shelter was on fire. When he got there along with some other people, he said he found the suspect standing outside while Tariq and his children were inside, in one of the two rooms in the shelter, unconscious and with critical head injuries.

“When I asked her who had injured them, she said she did not know,” Arif told the police, adding that the suspect could also not explain how the shelter caught fire.

The SSP said that someone had also alerted the Rawalakot station house officer (SHO), who was on patrol with some constables in the same area.

When he got there, the SHO found that the boy had died while his father and sister were still alive. They died on their way to the hospital.

The SSP said the suspect was brought to the police station based on suspicion of her involvement and that she initially said she did not know who had killed her family. She later admitted that she had bludgeoned her husband and children with an axe when they were sleeping.

The suspect claimed she had also tried to kill herself by trying to electrocute herself

The SSP said that on her indication, the police also recovered the axe from the shelter as well. Mr Amin said Mohammad Tariq worked odd jobs in the area to support his family and that the motive behind the killings is not yet known.

“The suspect is still in shock and the police have not yet subjected her to intense questioning or interrogation,” he said.

“But the situation will be clear in a day or two,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2018