HYDERABAD: Caretaker Sindh Minister for Health Dr Saad Niaz has rejected findings of the inquiry he had ordered into “possible lapse of DNA evidence in Fatima Furiro case” and decided to hold the probe afresh.

The minister termed the inquiry report’s leak to media “unprofessional” and “careless” on the part of inquiry team’s chairman, Dr Waheed Ali Nahiyoon, a professor in BS-21 at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro.

As per minutes of a meeting chaired by the minister on Dec 12 and released to the press on Thursday, he (the minister) expressed anger over the report’s leak. The meeting took decision to hold a fresh inquiry, according to the minutes.

The minister stated that it was the committee chairman’s carelessness and unprofessionalism that led to the report being ‘leaked to the press’ even before he could see it.

He pointed out the committee’s failure to address “unprofessional action of the lab” and said “the lab neglected to inform superiors when the sample tested positive” and only revealed it “under pressure” when the inquiry was initiated.

“Some participants criticised inaccuracies and lack of professionalism in the report submitted by LUMHS laboratory [regarding DNA result],” said the minutes.

Referring to the committee’s recommendation for fixing responsibility on Dr Summaiya on charges of “overstepping authority”, the minutes noted that “blame on a single individual was biased and based on testimonies and not on hard facts”.

It was unanimously decided by all participants in the meeting that the inquiry report should be rejected due to the aforementioned reasons and a consensus was reached to conduct a fresh inquiry.

The meeting agreed that it was evident from the exhumation report that the members of the medical board were not on the same page and that they were divided on sending the DNA samples to Karachi or Hyderabad.

LUMHS lab, probe committee heads react to charges

The inquiry committee chairman Prof Dr Waheed Ali Nahiyoon disagreed with the minister’s views and said the minutes showed the minister was unaware of the working of the forensic lab.

He insisted the committee were right in fixing responsibility on Dr Summaiya insofar as the samples retrieval from LUMHS was concerned. She did it without realising that ‘seal of the samples’ was broken. “She didn’t realise when a sample is once unsealed and used it starts losing element of evidentiary value in re-analysis and that is the reason the samples tested positive in LUMHS and negative in other labs,” said Dr Nahiyoon.

He rejected the minister’s claim that the medical board members were not on the same page over where the samples should go. The inquiry report clearly mentioned that all the members agreed to send the samples to LUMHS and not only this but consensus was shown before the judicial magistrate. “The samples retrieval had been done without prior permission of the magistrate who was informed about it at a later stage,” he said.

LUMHS’s laboratory in-charge Prof Dr Ali Mohammad Waryah described the minister’s comment as highly irresponsible, especially when he was not aware of legal framework of the laboratory’s working.

He said that minister was not competent enough to comment on the laboratory’s functioning. “The laboratory is supposed to deal with senior superintendent of police (SSP) concerned who despatches the samples considering medico legal nature of the process as it is a case property. The job is always assigned to us. We can’t share outcome of any result merely on moral grounds and we are not supposed to inform health minister or secretary (about it),” he said.

He said that when Fatima Furiro’s samples were retrieved the lab stopped the process and recommenced it only when the health department sent it a written request but in the meanwhile it was not supposed to share its result with anyone other than the SSP. “The Health minister’s statement about inaccuracies in the inquiry report can be used by accused in their favour and not the victim,” he regretted.

Fatima Furiro died under mysterious circumstances at the mansion of a ‘pir’ in Ranipur on Aug 14. He mother lodged a murder case after a video showing Fatima writhing in pain at the haveli went viral on social media and sent shockwaves across Sindh.

The forensic lab was provided samples of some suspects though more were needed. The lab had informed the inquiry committee that “mix male DNA profile was obtained from semen/stains on clothes of deceased housemaid Fatima which was preserved for further matching”.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023