Woman Prevented From Setting Herself, Daughter On Fire During Demonstration

suicide

SUKKUR: A woman doused herself and her young daughter with petrol and was about to torch both of them in front of the Khairpur SSP office on 10 July 2024, but police officials rushed to stop her from committing self-immolation.

Shabana Kalhoro later told media persons that she was compelled to take the extreme step in protest against officials posted at Shah Latif police station.

They had picked up her husband Jameel Ahmed Kalhoro from her home in Mumtaz Colony five days ago after she refused to establish a ‘friendship’ with police constable Waheed Shaikh.

She said that she had been making rounds of the police station since then, but police officials turned a deaf ear to her cries and complaints and often drove her out of the police station.

She said that the police official was threatening her that if she did not do his bidding, he would implicate her husband in bogus cases and he would be ‘full-fried’ which meant he would be killed in a staged encounter. Moreover, she said that police were also demanding a Rs40,000 bribe for releasing her husband.

She said that if she did not get justice, she would commit suicide along with her young daughter, and in that case, constable Waheed Shaikh and the SHO of Shah Latif police station would be responsible for their suicide.

She appealed to Sukkur DIG and Khairpur SSP to intervene to get her husband freed and provide her family protection against the police, especially constable Waheed Shaikh.

Sources said that the woman might have lost all hope and decided to take the extreme step after she saw little impact from her press conference against the police official at the local press club a day ago.

Published in Dawn News on 11th July 2024.

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