Man blames in-laws’ mistreatment for death of young daughter

A newly-wed teenage girl died under mysterious circumstances in the Korangi area of the city on Sunday.

The family of the deceased girl suspect that she died because of mistreatment and mental pressure; however, doctors opined that the woman's death was most likely a natural death that did not happen as a result of any form of violence.

The death occurred at a house located in Sector 6 in the Mehran Town area of Korangi within the limits of the Korangi Industrial Area police station.

The body of 17-year-old Roma, wife of Saleem, was brought to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre at around 12:30pm where a post-mortem was conducted.

“In our initial findings, it has been clarified that there are no signs of torture or violence marks on the girl's body,” Chief Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told The News. “We have also conducted an internal examination, which did not reveal any such signs.”

She said the girl died due to massive intracranial bleeding leading to herniation of the brain stem, resulting in cardiorespiratory failure. “It can be understood that her death occurred due to the rupture of blood vessels in the brain, leading to fatal consequences,” the chief police surgeon explained.

“It seems that this issue might be congenital, and it is unlikely that the bursting of blood vessels in the brain occurred due to mental pressure. Most probably, this is a natural death, but visceral samples have been collected to investigate any corroborative causes.”

The deceased woman was not pregnant, Dr Summaiya said.

Earlier, the deceased woman's father, while talking to the media at the hospital, claimed that his daughter was often mistreated by her in-laws. He said there was a likelihood that she died due to severe mental pressure and mistreatment.

The father said he had bought new clothes for her and he had left the house to visit his daughter when he received information on the way that his daughter was admitted to a hospital. Upon reaching there, he discovered that his daughter had passed away.

He revealed that his daughter had been married for seven months and faced mistreatment from her in-laws, leading to mental stress.

On the night before her death, the father said, he had spoken to his daughter who seemed fine, but on Sunday morning, her phone was switched off and there was no response from the in-laws. “We demand justice," he said.

Meanwhile, Roma's husband claimed that he had never been violent towards his wife. Defending himself, he stated that he returned home from work around midnight, had dinner with his wife, and watched TV until around 2:30am. After that, his wife turned off the TV and went to sleep. He mentioned that at 5am, his wife asked for water, but after that, she did not drink the water and went back to sleep forcefully.

He added that he woke up at 10am and tried to wake his wife, but she did not get up. SHO Obaidullah Khan said the cause of death could not be determined immediately and the police were investigating the case.