BADIN: A 35-year-old mother of three children, who died reportedly after having suffered months of abuse and domestic violence in virtual detention in Hyderabad by several suspects, including her brother, was silently buried in Lowari Sharif graveyard on March 26, according to police officials.

Police came to know about the incident after a video went viral on social media a day ago in which the victim, who gave her name as Anna Unnar, could be heard relating to her anonymous rescuer that her brother Khadim Unnar and his associates had dumped her on a roadside somewhere in Hyderabad after subjecting her to inhuman violence and abuse in confinement, which left her nearly dead, they said.

They said that preliminary investigations showed the victim and her family originally belonged to Lowari Sharif and later moved to Larkana. The woman was given in marriage to her relative Rafeeq Unnar under the outdated custom of addo-baddo or watta satta with Rafeeq having given the hand of his sister to Saddam (Anna’s brother) 17 years ago, they said.

They said that Anna, who had moved with her husband to his village, Chibbar Unnar, near Sita Road town in Dadu district left her husband’s house about seven months back due to maltreatment at the hands of her husband and took refuge with her brother Khadim in Hyderabad where, according to her own statement, she was allegedly imprisoned, abused and tortured, which led to her death.

Badin court orders exhumation, constitution of medical board

She could be heard telling her rescuer in answer to his queries that he and his friends had found her in a serious condition at an abandoned place in Hyderabad and that she had suffered untold amounts of abuse and torture for the past seven months at the hands of her brother and his associates.

Sources in Lowari Sharif said that the victim’s husband Rafeeq and her brother Khadim brought her body to the town on March 26 and secretly buried it in the graveyard without informing anybody.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sheeraz Nazeer took notice of the incident and wrote a letter to the court concerned seeking permission for exhuming the victim’s body at the Lowari Sharif graveyard and having its post mortem conducted.

Court grants exhumation

The court of civil and judge and judicial magistrate-I, Badin, allowed exhumation of the victim’s body on an application filed by Police Inspector Mehmood Pathan, SHO of Badin police station, on Friday.

The court further directed the SHO to set up a picket at the graveyard and make correspondence with Director General of Health Services Sindh with reference to this order asking him to constitute a medical aboard for carrying out exhumation of the victim’s body and determining cause of her death.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024