LAHORE: The police have registered a murder case against the in-laws of Syeda Sania Zahra, a pregnant mother of two from New Multan, who was found hanged in her home near Chowk Kumharanwala on July 9.

When the deceased’s parents visited the house, the in-laws claimed that Sania had died by hanging herself from a ceiling fan. Her father Asad Abbas refused to take any legal action and buried her at a local graveyard.

However, social media users raised doubts after photos posted online showed Sania seated on a table with a rope connected to the fan. After a social media outcry, the Violence Against Women Centre in Multan approached the police to probe the matter.

The police registered a case under sections 302 (intentional murder), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against the husband of the deceased, Ali Raza, his brother Ali Haider, father Jeevan Shah, mother Azra Bibi, sister Kanwal Bibi, and sister-in-law Syeda Dua on the complaint of deceased’s father Syed Asad Abbas.

The FIR stated that Sania’s body showed signs of torture, including a broken jaw, bruised eyes, injured elbows, and rope marks on her feet. It added that she was five to six months pregnant at the time of her death.

The suspect, the husband, fled the scene and did not even inform the family of their daughter’s death. The suspect had lied to the victim’s family at the time of their marriage and was already married to another woman, the complainant stated.

The family had filed a case in the family court against the suspect; however, the case was eventually retracted. The husband kept on threatening his wife and pressured her to sell the house she owned, the FIR said.

It also said that the suspect had visited the complainant a few days before the victim’s death and had threatened that he would kill her if the property in her name was not transferred to him.

The complainant said that his daughter was murdered by her husband and his other family members, who were after her property, and that the matter was being “portrayed as a suicide”.

Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Baitul Mal Sohail Shaukat Butt and Women’s Protection Authority Chairperson Hina Pervaiz Butt held a meeting with the father of the deceased woman.

They said the case would be thoroughly investigated.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024