PESHAWAR: The husband of a woman, who had a nail hammered into her head allegedly by a faith healer some days ago, claimed on Thursday that she was suffering from mental health issues.

He said that the nail hammered into her wife’s head had nothing to do with any faith healer.

The nail was removed from the woman’s head at the Lady Reading Hospital some days ago. The news went viral on social media platforms after it was leaked from the hospital, prompting police to launch an investigation into the matter.

Earlier it was alleged that a fake faith healer smote the nail into her head to make her bear male offspring. However, on Thursday, her husband Ahmed Sabir, an Afghan national, appeared before journalists at the police lines and denied the assertion that an alleged faith healer hammered a nail into his wife’s head.

Also read: Police searching for faith healer after nail hammered into Peshawar woman’s head

He claimed that his wife was suffering from mental health issues for quite a long and was also treated by psychiatrists. He also denied desiring a son, stating that he had 11 children including six sons from two wives.

Mr Sabir also questioned the media outlets for running the news without checking with the family. He said that the incident had nothing to do with any faith healer or desire for male offspring. “You people would not believe this, but she is possessed by spirits,” he added.

He said that the woman was his second wife whom he had married in 2012. He said that she was mother of three including two sons. From the first marriage, he has eight children including four sons and four daughters.

Mr Sabir said that his wife had in the past thrown herself from the third storey of his residence to kill herself.

SSP Haroon Rashid said on the occasion that police traced the family during the investigation. Regarding the nail in the woman’s head, he said that it might have been result of some accident. However, he said that police were planning a psychiatric evaluation of the woman.

The SSP said that the woman told investigators that she lost consciousness while removing a wall mounted heater and found the nail in her head upon regaining consciousness.

He said that police also checked the record of telephone calls of her husband, who was outside his home at the time of occurrence.

The woman with a bleeding head was brought to LRH few days ago and doctors found a nail hammered into her head. The doctors later removed the nail from the head during a procedure.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022