Karachi: A Pakistani Hindu dental college student was found dead in mysterious circumstances in her hostel room in Sindh province with a rope tied to her neck. It prompted her family to demand a transparent probe, according to media reports here, Tuesday.
Namrita Chandni, a final-year student of ‘Bibi Asifa Dental College’ in Larkana district and a social activist, was found lying on a cot by her friends Monday with a rope tied to her neck. Her room was locked from inside, ‘The Express Tribune’ reported.
Namrita Chandni belonged to Ghotki, the district which was in the news since Sunday after three cases against 218 rioters were filed for vandalising properties, including a Hindu temple.
Widespread protests erupted Sunday in Ghotki after an FIR was filed against the principal of Sindh Public School on the complaint of a student’s father who claimed that the teacher had committed blasphemy by his anti-Islam remarks.
Namrita Chandni’s friends grew worried when she did not respond to their knocks on the door for several minutes. “She was neither responding to the knocking at the door nor to our shouts,” one of her friends told the police. The hostel’s watchman later broke open the door and found her dead.
Police are yet to ascertain whether the girl committed suicide or was murdered.
Chandni was laid to rest Tuesday in her hometown in Ghotki. The Hindu community in Mirpur Mathelo shut down their businesses and shops to mourn her death and register their protest. Social media users also demanded an investigation into her death, ‘Dawn’ newspaper reported.
Chandni’s brother Dr Vishal, a medical consultant in Dow Medical College in Karachi, told the media that the marks around her neck suggested that she had not committed suicide.
The marks on her neck looked like those made by cable wires, while the wounds on her arms suggested that someone was holding her down, he was quoted as saying by ‘Dawn’ newspaper.
Talking to ‘DawnNewsTV’, Nimrita’s uncle said that they wanted an investigation as to why her body was kept in the Chandka Medical College’s intensive care unit before the family reached the hospital. He accused the doctors of being involved in the ‘murder’ and questioned why a post-mortem had not been conducted.
A first information report (FIR) of the incident is yet to be registered. Chandni’s family said they will lodge a complaint with the police once they receive a post-mortem examination report. Police have yet to issue a statement.
The college’s Vice-Chancellor Aneela Attaur Rehman informed that the mobile phone and other belongings of the deceased student, along with other evidences, were taken into custody by police for forensic analysis.
PTI
