LAHORE: The police haste in declaring the mysterious death of a young woman, whose body was found hanging in her room in a private hostel here on Sunday, as suicide has raised questions about the authenticity of the probe’s findings.

The deceased woman (26) was from Sahiwal, doing her post-graduation from a private university located in Township, and resided in a private hostel in the same area.

Late on Sunday, her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan with her scarf (dupatta) in her hostel room.

The police had also found her cell phone from the room and seized it for forensic analysis to dig out facts behind the incident.

However, just a few hours after the incident, the police officials declared it a suicide, claiming that the woman might have ended her life over some personal reasons that were yet to be known.

However, the circumstantial and other evidence, including the crime scene, the post-incident scenario, raise doubts about the authenticity of the police’s initial findings.

For instance, the photographs and a video clip of the hostel room where the body was found, shared by the police with the media, showed the feet of the deceased woman were touching the floor of the room.

A former police official, commenting on the issue, said: “Death of a person committing suicide by hanging him or herself usually don’t occur with feet touching any object underneath.”

In the light of his experience, he said that in this particular case the possibilities of homicide could not be ruled out. He said the police investigators concerned should not have jumped to the conclusion that it was a suicide and must have thoroughly probed into it.

Secondly, he said, the data of the deceased woman’s cell phone should also be carefully analysed by forensic experts, as it could lead them to important facts of the case.

“Any premature conclusion could benefit the culprit, and help him/her escape punishment in the court of law, in case the investigations at any later stage showed it was a murder,” the ex-police expert said.

The hostel documents and a detailed information about the family background of the deceased girl could also be helpful for the investigators to resolve the case.

As per police sources, in the hostel admission form, she had mentioned her uncle as her guardian as her parents had died a few years back. The deceased had a sister who was married and had no other sibling.

The ex-policeman was of the view that being an orphan and having no male sibling could leave a young woman living alone in a city vulnerable to any predator or blackmailer.

He also mentioned, referring to police inquiries, that the fact that the room where the body was found was not locked from inside should not have been ignored by investigators as usually suicidal persons take such extreme steps after locking the door. Township Circle DSP Saeed Khan defended the probe and its findings, saying in the light of the circumstantial evidences it was “clear case of suicide”.

About the feet of the deceased touching the floor, he said it could be because of loosening of the knot of her scarf because of the body’s weight.

He said quoting the statements of her hostel fellows that the deceased had been depressed because of the death of her parents.

“She used to share her life story and pain of her loneliness with her class fellows”, the police officer said, adding that these factors seemed to have forced her to take the extreme step.

About the forensic audit of her mobile phone, he said as she had not protected it with password the police experts easily accessed the last messages which she had exchanged with her elder sister.

“These messages were of routine nature,” he added. However, the police could not explain why the forensic analysis of the phone was not done as the deleted messages, if any, could only be revealed through the process.“We found no unusual messages in her mobile phone”, he said, adding that the only sister of the deceased woman visited the police station and refused to proceed with the matter for legal action.

The area magistrate also allowed the police to handover the dead body to the family following the request of her sister, who refused the postmortem examination of the body, the DSP said.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2021