FAISALABAD/BAHAWALPUR: The postmortem report of the woman who became a victim of Railways Police constable’s torture in the Millat Express and was later found dead in Chani Goth, has revealed five major wounds on her body.
Furthermore, the left arm and right thigh of the corpse were missing, and the body was severely mutilated. According to the postmortem report, the skull was fractured into pieces and the brain was also found outside the skull. The cause of Maryam’s death was due to excessive bleeding from injuries to the head, chest, muscles and bones. The left side of the corpse had bruises on the neck, chest and face, and the jawbone was also fractured. Her ribs and neck were broken and blood clots were present in the body. Additionally, there were wounds and blood marks on the lower abdomen. The postmortem report indicates that samples were not taken for a toxicology test.
Meanwhile, explaining the circumstances behind the police official torturing the woman, Pakistan Railways spokesperson Babar Ali Raza on Tuesday said the woman was sitting on another passenger’s seat and the cop subjected her to torture after trying hard to remove her from there. Talking in the Geo News programme “Geo Pakistan”, the spokesperson said first the passenger himself asked her to get up from the seat, but when she started scattering his belongings, he approached the police. “Constable Mir Hasan begged Maryam for about 20-25 minutes to get up, but she refused,” he said. “All this information has been received from the passengers present there. What happened next is in the video,” he said.
Contrary to reports run on local TV channels about Hasan murdering the woman, he said the cop only took her to another coach. The victim’s body was found near Chani Goth, Bahawalpur, while the police official left the train at the Hyderabad station. Raza said the call detail record (CDR) of the official had also been obtained. According to the CDR, on April 7 and 8, the official was in Karachi and Hyderabad. “As recorded in the register, on April 7 at 7:25, the cop’s weapon was deposited in Hyderabad after he got off at the station. The passengers also did not see him outside the Hyderabad limits,” he said, adding that the passengers shouted after the woman jumped from the train in Bahawalpur. According to the witnesses’ statements, the woman had jumped herself but they were not ruling out any other aspect in the investigation, Raza said.
“We have the passengers’ statements that the woman was taken to another coach. She was not kept in a solitary place,” he said, adding that Mir Hasan would be called again as soon as the inquiry started.
A four-member inquiry committee led by the DIG Railways Police (South Zone) would present its report to the chairman Pakistan Railways within three days. As per the woman’s relatives, she was mentally ill, the spokesperson said. However, he said it was the jurisdiction of local police station and not the railways police where the woman jumped off the running train.
On the other hand, Maryam’s brother Afzal said he had sent an application to the Chani Goth Police Station, Bahawalpur, to file a case against the constable and two other unidentified persons. He said his sister worked at a beauty parlour in Karachi and was a resident of Chak No 648 GB. She was returning home by the Millat Express to celebrate Eid holidays in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, on April 7. “The railways constable and two other suspects teased her and upon her stopping them, they subjected her to torture. Following that, they pushed her off the running train,” he alleged, adding that Maryam succumbed to her wounds. Afzal said the suspects also took cash and gold jewellery from her purse. He said his sister was murdered hence, a case should be lodged under Section 302.
More than eight days have passed and the incident is yet to be resolved. On Tuesday afternoon, the district police officer, Bahawalpur, received a complaint of the brother of the victim through the regional police officer, Faisalabad, for the registration of an FIR against Mir Hassan. DPO Bahawalpur Asad Sarfraz Khan directed the DSP Ahmadpur East and the SHO Chani Goth to conduct a probe and register an FIR, if necessary.
When The News contacted DSP Ahmadpur East Furrukh Javid, he confirmed that an FIR had been registered against Mir Hassan and his two unidentified accomplices under Section 302, 382 and 354 of the PPC. However, The News is yet to confirm that the sister of the victim was also travelling in the same train but in a different coach as reported by another English newspaper. Further, no passenger confirmed that the victim woman and her two nephews were pushed out of the train.
People have demanded an expeditious conclusion of the probe being conducted by the four-member committee constituted by the Pakistan Railways.