A 27-year-old woman was allegedly beaten up and poisoned by her in-laws in the Lahori Gate area here on Thursday for giving birth to a girl child. The woman is on ventilator support at LNJP Hospital.
Isathayat, a resident of Gali Tehwar Masjid Khan, was admitted to LNJP Hospital by her parents on Thursday morning after her husband Zawed, a call centre employee, called up one of her relatives to inform that she had attempted suicide by consuming poison.
“Zawed called up my sister to inform that Isathayat had consumed poison. She in turn informed me. My wife, sister and I rushed to her house and took her to LNJP Hospital. She is critical and on ventilator support. She had also been beaten up and has injury marks all over her body,” said Isathayat's father Malik Sikander, who is in the screen printing business.
The 58-year-old said his daughter's troubles began soon after wedding to Zawed in October 2010.
“Soon after the marriage on October 15, Zawed and his family started harassing her for dowry. We even tried to fulfil their demands and bought them a LCD television, a refrigerator and other household appliances. But their demands refused to end. They had told us before the wedding that Zawed was a businessman, but we later discovered that he worked at a call centre in Noida and drew a paltry salary.”
But things took a turn for the worse for Isathayat, a Zakir Hussain College graduate, after she gave birth to her first child, a girl, on February 25. “When Zawed and his mother heard about the birth of a girl, they created a scene in the nursing home. Zawed's mother never came to the hospital after the delivery and my wife took care of the child at the nursing home. Even after Isathayat was discharged three days after the delivery, my wife took care of the little girl for more than a week.”
Though Isathayat's in-laws have maintained that she attempted suicide by consuming poison, Mr. Sikander said he suspected that she was made to consume poison. “Why would the mother of a two-month-old infant want to commit suicide? I strongly suspect that her in-laws forced her to consume poison,” he said.
For its part, the police said the matter was under investigation. “The woman's parents have given their statement to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The sequence of events will become clear only after the statement of the victim is recorded. She is still not fit for statement,” said a senior police officer.
A case has been registered under Section 498 (A) (husband and his relatives subjecting woman to cruelty) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code at the Lahori Gate police station.
