SAHIWAL: A man and his mother have been booked in Chichawatni for killing his newborn daughter for her gender as they wanted a boy.

The City Police registered a case in which a woman accused her son-in-law, Usman, and her mother, Rasoolan Bibi of strangling her newborn granddaughter. The alleged incident occurred in the Hayatabad area of Chichawatni City on July 12.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against Usman and Rasoolan on the complaint of Shabana Kausar, the maternal grandmother of the deceased baby.

SHO Umer Daraz said Usman was arrested while his mother was at large.

The report stated that 18 months ago, Hina Noor, a resident of GT Road, Okara, married Usman, a resident of Hayatabad. Kausar claimed that the couple had a troubled relationship with her daughter, often complaining of domestic violence. During her pregnancy, Hina moved to Kausar’s home last month in Okara for delivery. On July 10, she gave birth to a girl through C-section. The next day, Usman and his mother visited Hina but instead of being happy, they taunted and insulted her for giving birth to a girl. They abused her for not delivering a male child.

On the same day, Usman and his mother forcibly took the baby from Hina and went to Chichawatni. Despite repeated requests, Usman and her mother refused to return the newborn. Fearing for the newborn baby’s life, Shabana Kausar filed a writ petition in the court of the additional district and sessions judge of Chichawatni for the safe recovery of the baby on July 11. The court ordered the City police to recover the child but they discovered that the baby had died and Usman and her mother had gone underground.

Usman’s family members claimed that the baby had fallen sick because she was not breastfed by her mother. They said the bay was admitted to the THQ Hospital for treatment where she passed away on July 12. However, Hina and her mother did not buy the story and suspected foul play, believing that Usman and his mother had strangled the child.

Kausar reported the incident to the City Police Station and murder case was registered against Usman and Rasoolan Bibi and arrested the former.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2024