Conflicting views on cause of death of minor boy abandoned at Karachi hospital

The body of a minor boy was abandoned at Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Wednesday, officials said. While police stated that the child died in a road accident, the police surgeon said his injuries suggested he was sexually and physically abused.

Safdar Mashwani, the Saddar police station house officer (SHO), told Dawn.com that CCTV footage showed that two men travelling in a car arrived at the hospital’s emergency department earlier in the day with the boy, who was injured at the time.

He said that the hospital staff asked the men accompanying the boy to get a slip made. Before this could happen, the boy died and the suspects fled, he said.

According to the SHO, the child, a resident of Qayyumabad, left his home at 9:30am and the purported road accident occurred at 11:00am.

Mashwani said it appeared that the accident had occurred near Qayumabad within the limits of the Defence police station. He said the number plate of the car the boy was brought to the hospital in had been traced and efforts were under way to trace the suspects.

Meanwhile, South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza took notice of the incident. He directed the Saddar SHO to obtain CCTV footage of the surrounding areas, immediately trace the car and ascertain the facts.

Raza told Dawn.com that the incident was an “accident case” — a claim disputed by police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed.

“The body of a minor boy was brought to the JPMC emergency by two unidentified people around noon,” she said, adding that the deceased appeared to be between four to five years of age.

She said that a post mortem examination was conducted and the child had “multiple injuries all over the body”.

“Findings [are] suggestive of chronic abuse — both physical and sexual,” she said, adding that “all visceral samples and swabs have been collected and cause of death kept reserved”.