Kenneth Glad
Recent cases have renewed attention on abuse that may be concealed before authorities establish what happened. A senior police surgeon says missing examinations and disbelief can leave serious crimes outside the public record.
A senior medico-legal specialist in Pakistan has warned that violence against women can be disguised through family explanations, delayed reporting and resistance to postmortem examinations.
Dr Summaiya Syed-Tariq, the chief police surgeon in Sindh’s health department, told The Guardian that some suspicious deaths are presented as accidents, suicides, poisonings or self-inflicted burns. Relatives may provide little information and oppose further medical investigation.
That resistance has practical consequences. Without a postmortem, doctors may be unable to establish the cause of death or document injuries that could support a criminal case. Tariq said families sometimes resist the procedure despite the legal requirement, particularly when an examination might confirm existing suspicions.
The same problem affects survivors of sexual violence. Some cases become known only when a woman is taken to hospital in a critical condition. By then, evidence may be harder to collect, while the survivor may already have encountered pressure from relatives or doubt from the authorities expected to help her.
This leaves more than a gap in crime statistics. It can influence whether suspicious deaths are investigated, whether repeated forms of abuse are recognised and whether protection measures are aimed at the places where they are most needed.
Why cases disappear
Tariq is working to establish a femicide observatory that would document premeditated killings of women. The Guardian reported that it may become the first organisation of its kind in Pakistan and possibly in South Asia.
The purpose is straightforward: Women cannot be included in policy decisions when their deaths are not counted accurately. A central record could help establish the scale of known femicides, although it would still depend on police, hospitals and families providing reliable information.
Recent cases reported by the newspaper show how quickly private violence can become fatal.
In Karachi, 58-year-old Asma Begum was allegedly killed by her husband after she refused to have sex with him. The 64-year-old later went to a police station and confessed. Videos subsequently appeared online in which some men praised him, while legal professionals publicly offered to represent him.
The response exposed the hostility women may face for refusing sex within marriage. Tariq told the publication that some families invoke religious language to support the idea that a wife should not say no, turning coercion into an expectation of obedience.
In Quetta, 29-year-old doctor Mahnoor Nasir suffered burns across 35% of her body after a lift operator at a government hospital allegedly attacked her with acid when she answered the door at home. She was flown to Karachi for specialist care. The suspect was later killed during police efforts to arrest him as he allegedly attempted to flee.
Disbelief blocks reporting
A third case involved a 17-year-old girl in Punjab. Police cited by the British newspaper said she had been kidnapped, drugged and gang-raped before three men took her to a hospital and left her there while she was unconscious. She later died. Investigators used hospital security footage to identify and arrest suspects, the publication reported.
For Tariq, such incidents form part of a wider problem rather than a collection of isolated crimes. Marital rape is among the least visible forms of abuse because women may have to overcome family pressure and social stigma before approaching doctors or police.
Even after reporting, survivors may be doubted by medical staff, investigators or courts. That response can discourage others from coming forward and allow serious violence to remain hidden until a medical emergency forces it into view.
Tariq also rejected the belief that abuse is confined to a particular class or community. Her experience in Karachi’s medico-legal system has included women from many social and economic backgrounds.
The proposed observatory will not address every barrier facing survivors. It could, however, provide a firmer count of women whose deaths might otherwise be recorded without adequate scrutiny. For Tariq, that is a necessary starting point: authorities cannot respond effectively to crimes they fail to see.
Sources: The Guardian
