KARACHI: The Women Action Forum’s (WAF) working committee held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday to share their fact-finding report on the marital rape case of Shanti with the media.

Sharing their findings, social activist, author and poet Attiya Dawood said that they first visited Shanti’s home in Lyari when they heard about what had happened to her while she was still alive, though barely.

“Her sisters were crying and her mother was shell-shocked,” she said, adding that they could not believe what had happened to Shanti who, according to them, seemed happy when she came home the day after her wedding.

“But her happiness was short-lived. Her husband turned into an animal within only two days of their marriage. She needed help, but her in-laws were more interested in helping their son. By the time her own family found out what had happened and sought to help her, she was 99 per cent dead,” Attiya informed.

Fact-finding report by WAF reveals harrowing details of 19-year-old Shanti’s ordeal

Anita Pingani said that they met doctors at the Civil Hospital Karachi’s Trauma Centre after Shanti’s family had gotten her admitted there. “She was in a terrible condition by then,” she said. “And the [private] hospital where her in-laws had initially taken her had washed away all the evidence. But we learned that she was raped by her husband on June 17 and brought to the Trauma Centre on July 4. What happened in the days in between?

“Well, we found out that on the first night, when she was crying out in pain, her father-in-law took her to Civil Hospital, where the doctors said that her condition indicated it was a police case. From Civil Hospital, the father-in-law took her to a private clinic in Mithadar, where a doctor demanded Rs500,000 while claiming he could fix her if they brought her to his private clinic. She was admitted there for eight to 10 days, while her own family were told to stay away as she was susceptible to infection.

“Later, when she was finally handed over to her family, a social worker, Najma Maheshwari, heard about her plight and urged them to take her to Trauma Centre. Had she been given the right medical care at the start, maybe her life could have been saved. She was only 19,” said Anita.

Lawyer Faiza Haswary said that when the father-in-law initially took poor Shanti to Civil Hospital, they should have treated her. “Because the Sindh Injured Persons Compulsory Medical Treatment [Amal Umer] Act of 2019 was passed by the Sindh Assembly for this purpose,” she pointed out. “Why was this Act not implemented in Shanti’s case?”

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Maheshwari said: “She was in a very bad shape by the time I got to know about her, and the doctors were afraid to admit her,” she said. “The doctors at the Trauma Centre said that it was a miracle that her heart was still beating, though she was brain-dead.

The doctor who had operated on her after taking Rs500,000 from her in-laws had only filled her with cotton wool. And when she was discharged, she was in no condition to be discharged. We will hold a protest there [at the private hospital],“ she announced.

Shanti’s sister-in-law Sonya was also present on the occasion. She spoke in Sindhi and said that she recorded a video of Shanti telling what had happened to her. “She has named her husband in the video,” she said.

Human rights defender Uzma Noorani and minority rights activist Seema Maheshwari also spoke.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2025