Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho has ordered an investigation into allegations of serial murder of female students who were said to have committed suicide, after a medical student at Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PUMHS) in Nawabshah claimed that officials had killed medical students in the past, and were attempting to kill her through harassment and torture.
Parveen Rind, who was completing her house job in nursing at PUMHS, uploaded a video to social media on Wednesday in which she claimed that three varsity officials had tried to kill her, torturing and beating her in a locked hostel room. She also alleged that other girls had been murdered at hostels before.
In response, the Sindh health minister formed a three-member inquiry committee. The chairman of the committee requested that the PUMHS vice chancellor be available to answer questions on Friday.
In the video, Parveen says three officials had been harassing her since she started her MBBS program. She said the men had finally forced her to comply with their ‘unethical’ commands, after beating and torturing her, as well as blackmailing her by stealing her cell phone.
She further claimed that the series of mysterious deaths of medical students at hostels across Sindh, which had previously been ruled suicides, were in fact murders committed by varsity officials. Dr Nimrita and Dr Nosheen Shah were found dead their hostel rooms in Chandka Medical College, Larkana; Naila Rind was also found dead in her hostel room in Sindh University; and Dr Asmat Rajput’s committed ‘suicide’ in her home in Sita Road town. With the exception of Dr Shah, these women had also been victims of blackmail before their deaths. Parveen alleged that these women had been murdered.
Nawabshah Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amir Saood Magsi told Dawn that a committee led by City Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sultan Chandio and the Station House Officer (SHO) of the women police station was investigating the medical student’s claims and would submit a report in three days. As of Thursday, police had already begun their investigation.
The University registrar has denied Parveen’s claims, saying that ‘no such incident’ had taken place and that Parveen had become upset after she was asked to shift rooms at the hostel.
