Man roams free after fatally beating wife as cops bicker over limits

A young woman died at a private healthcare facility on Tuesday of wounds inflicted by her physically abusive husband. 

While the police did confirm that the victim – identified as 26-year-old Sehrish Simran – was physically assaulted by her husband, Inayat Masih, there had been no arrests till Tuesday night as two police stations remained embroiled in a dispute over jurisdiction.

The argument stems from the fact that Sehrish and Inayat’s residence is in an apartment complex in Block 7, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, but the victim had passed away at a private hospital in Korangi. 

Simran was brutally beaten by Inayat at the couple’s apartment on September 23. She was then transported in an ambulance of the Chippa Welfare Association to the house of Inayat’s elder brother, Asif, in Qayyumabad.

The next day Asif admitted Simran to the Sir Syed Hospital, Korangi, where she remained under treatment till her death on Tuesday. Her body was then shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for a post-mortem examination.  The autopsy, however, was yet to be conducted due to the jurisdiction dispute and Simran’s body has been placed in a mortuary for now.  

Police version

Speaking to The News, Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) police SHO Khalid Abbasi said the case did not fall within their limits since Simran was a resident of Block 7, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and had been transported in an ambulance from her house to Asif’s residence in Qayyumabad. 

SHO Abbasi said the KIA police would not register a case as paramedics had picked her up in an injured condition from Gulistan-e-Jauhar. 

On the other hand, Gulistan-e-Jauhar police SHO Rao Zakir, who confirmed that Inayat had assaulted Simran, contended it was the KIA police’s responsibility to file a case since Simran had been at Asif’s house on September 23 before being admitted to a hospital in Korangi.

However, SHO Zakir said the matter would be resolved soon as Simran’s family members living in the United States of America were returning to Karachi for her last rites and they would be registering a case.