CHITRAL, March 22: Doctors have declared that a seriously ill young girl stands a chance of recovering only if she gets back her baby who was taken away from her soon after delivery. Gul Hazrat Bibi, 15, who belongs to the Kalash community, is struggling for her life in a hospital. In despair, she has renounced Islam which she had embraced a year ago after marrying a Muslim boy from the village of Ayun.

Chiragh Ahmed had lured her to leave her first husband and marry him, and he compensated her Kalash husband under the custom of Dukn.

The girl, then 14, embraced Islam and married Chiragh Ahmed.

But her new husband allegedly started abusing and beating her and her relatives refused to have any link with her.

She was confined to a dark room and was not given proper food during pregnancy.

She braved the winter of Chitral in the unheated room and gave birth to a boy about a month ago. She was alone in the ‘cell’ at the time of delivery.

Chiragh Ahmed divorced her two weeks later and expelled her from the house. His family kept the baby.

She took refuge in a house in the village and has since been severely ill.

She falls unconscious quite often and the ordeal seems to have affected her mental health.

The Ayun union council nazim got her admitted to the district hospital and raised money for her treatment. A councillor looks after her but her condition is fast deteriorating.

Doctors said on Tuesday that she could recover only if she got her baby back.

However, her former husband is reported to be refusing to allow her to meet the baby. Sources said the hospital management was being pressurised by some quarters to discharge her.

Meanwhile, the president of the Legal Aid Forum, Chitral, Advocate Niaz A. Niazi, has filed a suit in the court of a family judge, praying that Chiragh Ahmed be ordered to hand over the baby to the girl and pay her money she is entitled to because of the dissolution of marriage. The court will hear the case on March 28.