Hyderabad woman succumbs to gunshot wounds week after attack

A young woman, who was shot and injured by a lone attacker in Hyderabad last week, succumbed to her injuries late on Tuesday night, police said.

Hyderabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Adeel Chandio told media.com that the suspect was arrested soon after the incident and allegedly shot and injured her for rejecting his marriage proposal.

“He (the suspect) was remanded to judicial custody after recovery of the weapon used in the offence,” SSP Chandio.

The victim’s brother lodged a case with Nasim Nagar police station and a first information report was filed under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 324 (attempted murder) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Pakistan Penal Code following the incident on Oct 3.

According to the text of FIR, the complainant said that the suspect wanted to marry his sister, but the family rejected the proposal since he was a non-Muslim.

“The suspect became angry and threatened to kill my sister,” the complainant alleged. “On October 3, the suspect intercepted me and my sister and shot her.

She was shifted to a private hospital in Latifabad, but was later referred to an intensive care unit due to the severity of the case.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA-Pakistan), citing the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18, said in a report that 28 per cent of women aged 15–49 have reported experiencing physical violence.

According to UNPFA, 56pc of women who experience any type of physical or sexual violence have not sought help or talked with anyone about the violence.

“This is mainly due to socio-cultural barriers, economic dependency and lack of information, accessibility, as well as lack of existence of support systems such as health care and psycho-social support services,” the report read.