KARACHI: Family members of the 16-year-old Cadet College Gadap student, Meer Salaar Ali Jaan Brohi, who died under controversial circumstances earlier this week, appealed to authorities and rights organisations to look into the tragedy and bring the people responsible for his untimely death to justice.

While the college has announced formation of a three-member inquiry board to determine the causes behind the student’s death, the family demanded a judicial probe, saying: “We will not accept one-sided findings.”

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Salaar’s mother Mehwish Wahab said: “My son was fit and healthy when his father dropped him at his college on May 11. A few days later when he complained of feeling sick to the college medical staff, he was promptly handed a couple of Panadols to take care of whatever issue he was having without caring to check him properly.”

She said: “By May 22, my son did not have the energy to get out of his bed. When he complained, he was told to stop faking illness. By May 23, he was having fits but was told to stop the ‘drama’. During another fit on Saturday, May 24, he fell off his bed. His college fellows screamed for help after which the college doctor was called. Salaar was taken to CMH Malir in a Suzuki pickup.

“When CMH Malir did not have a bed available, instead of informing us, the college medical staff and doctor took him back to his dorm bed. They should have informed us when he was complaining of feeling sick. We could have taken him to any hospital. But no one at the college cared to tell us, even after his condition worsened.

“The college doctor prescribed antihistamines for him to make him sleep. That was during the day. But after his condition worsened even further at around 8pm and he was found to be unresponsive, the house master called us, saying he had developed a fever and was unwell so it would be better if we came to collect him,” she said.

“When we arrived, we were shocked to find him comatose. We were told that medical help had been sought and he had been taken to CMH Malir. We asked for their reports, but the college medical staff refused to hand them to us, saying they were part of their records. That’s when I took pictures of the reports from my phone,” the mother said, showing the reports to the media.

Salaar’s parents rushed him to the Liaquat National Hospital where he was put on a ventilator. Tests showed that he was brain dead. He was declared gone by Monday, May 26.

Dawn tried to reach out to the college administration on a phone number given on their website but in vain.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025