HYDERABAD: The interim pre-arrest bail granted to three senior doctors on March 18 in the alleged murder case of a young Thari domestic help was confirmed by the Model Criminal Trial Court-I Judge, Tasawar Ali, on Thursday.

The body of Abdul Rehman Samejo, 22, was found hanging in the bathroom of the house of his employer, Dr Mohammad Naeem, in Latifabad on March 16. The youth had been working as his domestic help for about five years, besides assisting his wife, Dr Mehwish, a senior gynaecologist, at her private clinic in the evening hours. The doctor couple had told the police that Samejo had committed suicide. A postmortem examination performed by Dr Saddam Zia at a government hospital had endorsed the couple’s claim.

However, Samejo’s uncle, Mr Habibullah, had lodged a murder case accusing the couple of having tortured his nephew to death and Dr Saddam Zia of complicity.

The FIR (No. 47/24) was registered at the B-Section police station of Latifabad and the suspects had obtained their interim pre-arrest bail from the same court.

On Thursday, Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Channa appeared in the court for the suspects and argued that his clients were senior doctors and could not commit such an offence. He submitted that the postmortem report showed that the deceased had committed suicide and there was no mark of violence on the body of the deceased. He pointed out that the postmortem was performed by a medical board, which established the cause of death as “compression of neck by ligature resulting in asphyxia”.

He insisted that the deceased had hanged himself in the bathroom, and argued that had it been a murder, there would have been marks of resistance or violence on the body. The counsel alleged that the FIR was lodged with mala fide intention.

The counsel for the complainant, Tariq Shah, contended that the grounds for the suspect’s pre-arrest bail were different from those of the post-arrest bail application. He said that the allegation of mala fide intention against his client was without any evidence. He claimed that the police did not make any effort to arrest the suspects. He also pointed out that soon after death of Samejo, his legal heirs were not called for the postmortem of his body. He said that conduct of the accused was unnatural, and insisted that it was a case of strangulation, and not hanging.

The state counsel supported arguments of the complainant’s counsel.

The court in its order noted that the postmortem was conducted by medico-legal officer Dr Ghazanfar and then it was conducted by a special medical board, formed by the director general of health services. In both reports, the cause of death was shown as compression of neck. No marks of violence were seen on the body, except for the ligature mark, according to the reports.

The order said that prima facie the postmortem report and opinion of the special medical board showed that it was a case of suicide and the police file also showed that no evidence regarding torture or homicide was found.

The judge said it was a case of further inquiry and observed that every person was deemed to be innocent unless proven guilty. He confirmed the interim pre-arrest bail of the accused.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2024