Protesters seek fair probe into ‘suicide’ of cook in Clifton house

KARACHI: Members of the Hindu community held a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday against the recent mysterious death of a 23-year-old man who worked as a cook at the Clifton bungalow of a businessman.

The protesters carried banners inscribed with several slogans. They said that Maro Meghwar did not commit suicide and urged the caretaker chief minister and the Sindh police chief to hold an impartial inquiry into the incident and arrest the culprit involved in his ‘murder’.

They said that the resident of Thar, Maro Meghwar, was found hanged in servant quarters of a building near Teen Talwar in Clifton on Oct 31. He was around 23 years of age and worked as a cook at the residence of a businessman.

The protesters alleged that the businessman used to beat him for going on leave. He had demanded leave to celebrate Holi when his employer allegedly beat him.

They claimed that Maro had phoned his family saying he was leaving his job. However, on Oct 31, the businessman informed the family at around 11pm that Maro had committed suicide by hanging himself in the servant quarters.

His relatives at the protest claimed that before the arrival of police, the door of the room was broken and his body was taken.

The protesters said that Frere police did not register an FIR on the relatives’ complaint.

They demanded a fair inquiry into the circumstances, which led to the death of the youth.

A police officer said that “apparently it was a suicide”. An autopsy was carried out at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where doctors reserved the cause of the death for receipts of reports. However, verbally, the doctors had informed the police that “the youth had hanged himself”.

The officer said that in the meantime, the family had approached a court, which would take up the matter on Nov 10.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023