Islamabad: Nimrita Chandni, a final-year student of Bibi Asifa Dental College in Sindh province, was found dead on a cot by her friends on September 16 with a rope tied to her neck. The final autopsy report revealed that the Pakistani Hindu girl was raped before being murdered.
The final postmortem report, which was issued by Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Woman Medico-Legal Officer (WMLO) Dr Amrita, revealed that the girl was sexually abused before being murdered, the local media reported. According to the autopsy report, her death was caused by suffocation. Asphyxial signs caused by a ligature on the neck were seen during the autopsy. 'Such signs are produced either in strangulation or hanging and are to be ascertained through circumstantial evidence as corroborative at the crime scene by state investigation authorities,' the WMLO said. A DNA test confirmed the presence of male DNA profile indicated from semen residue on the deceased's clothes, whereas a vaginal swab tested positive for a forced sexual act, the report said.
A previous autopsy report, which stated it to be a case of suicide, was questioned by several medico-legal experts. Experts and officials of the medico-legal section of the health department in Karachi believed that the earlier autopsy report carried many flaws and missed key facts. They said the ligature mark in picture was not due to a dupatta. The post-mortem findings show suicide but ligature mark shows strangulation, the experts had said. They also said it was also questionable as to how a five-feet-tall girl managed to hang herself from the ceiling fan, which was 15 feet high.
Earlier, Larkana Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University's (SMBBMU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Aneela Atta Ur Rahman had claimed that the 25-year-old student committed suicide. However, her brother Dr Vishal, a medical consultant in Dow Medical College in Karachi, had said that the marks around her neck suggested that Nimrita did not commit suicide. Following a massive protest over the girl's death and demand for a 'transparent investigation' into the incident by her family, the Sindh High Court on September 18 ordered a judicial inquiry into the matter. The probe is being supervised by the Larkana District and Sessions Judge.
Probe into ‘joint suicide’ of 2 Hindu women
Police in Pakistan have started investigation into the apparent joint suicide of two young Hindu women in Thar district, one of the country’s poorest and most-neglected districts, in the southern Sindh province. The locals had informed police after spotting the bodies of Nathu Bai and Veeru Bai on a farmland in Kehri village, where they lived. Both were in their early twenties and were married to two brothers, Chaman Kohli and Pehlaj Kohli, who worked on the farms of a local landowner. While police have yet to ascertain the cause of their death, campaigners say there has been a spate of suicides in the area. “It was apparently a suicide, though we are still looking into it,” Kabeer Khan, a local police inspector, reportedly said. “It’s hard for me to say why they did it. It’s the harvest season, so we can’t say hunger could be a reason... Can’t rule out domestic tensions caused by overwork or negligence,” he added. Dr Pushpa Ramesh, who examined the bodies said: “There were no injuries or signs of trauma on the bodies to suggest any other cause of death.”
