KARACHI: A young pregnant woman died under controversial circumstances in her upper Gizri home, police and doctors said on Sunday.

South-SSP Syed Asad Raza said the woman’s parents alleged that their daughter was murdered by her husband.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said 22-year-old Maliha Azeem, pregnant in the first trimester, was brought dead at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Saturday.

She said a couple of days ago she was brought to the JPMC’s emergency, where she complained about “frequent assaults by her husband”. However, she was cleared by all departments and discharged without any medico-legal formalities.

The police surgeon said it was duly mentioned in her clinical notes that she had a history of assaults by her husband, but despite that she was not referred to the medico-legal section and discharged without any intimation.

Her parents, who reached Karachi from Lahore, insisted for carrying out a post-mortem examination.

The police surgeon said there were ‘old bruises on the body’ as per an autopsy report. “All visceral samples have been preserved for chemical analysis and histopathology and the cause of death has been kept reserved till receiving reports.”

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023