Khairpur man kills HIV-positive wife

He feared other members of his family will contract disease from her

SHIKARPUR  -    A man on Wednesday allegedly killed his HIV-positive wife, a mother of four kids, by hanging her on a tree in Shikarpur district of Sindh where hundreds of people have been tested positive for the virus.

The incident took place in village Wazir Rind, 40 kilometers from Shikarpur district, in the limits of Dakhan Police Station.

Assistant Superintendent of Shikarpur Police Farooque Amjad confirmed the incident and told this scribe that suspect Bahadur Rind, according to initial reports, allegedly killed his wife, Ms Zarina, 30, by hanging her with a tree after she was tested positive for the virus.

Deceased Zarina had visited Ratodero tehsil of Larkana to conduct her HIV AIDS test on 9th May. The result indicated that she was carrying HIV virus. Zarina and Bahadur Rind used to argue with each other over the HIV-positive result on almost daily basis. Bahadur was much annoyed with her wife, said ASP Shikarpur.

The locals said that Bahadur Rind was upset after his wife Zarina was diagnosed with HIV AIDS in recent tests. He feared that other members of his family will contract the disease from his wife.

He was forcing wife to go back to her parents’ home so he could marry another woman but Zarina resisted. This led to a domestic fight, following which he strangled her to death.

Area police have arrested Bahadur Rind. Police reached the scene of crime and shifted the body to Garhi Yaseen Taluka Hospital for post-mortem.

The body of deceased was handed over to her relatives after post-mortem, the ASP added.

Akbar Rind, brother of ill-fated woman, talking to journalists in Dakhan, said, “My sister was killed and then her body was hanged with a tree because she was tested positive for virus. She made many complaints regarding her husband’s behaviour with him,” he claimed.

Any case regarding the incident was yet to be registered till filing of this report.

However according to some reports, Bahadur strangled his wife with the help of his brother for being ‘characterless’ after she was found HIV positive.

Zarina’s body was found hanging from a tree outside her house. Police are also conducting raids for arrest of the co-accused in the incident.

The number of HIV patients in Sindh increasing with every passing day as four more cases of HIV were reported from Shikarpur on Tuesday.

At least 356 people were screened for the potentially life-threatening condition of HIV in Shikarpur’s village of Dakhan, from which four were tested positive.

With the latest inclusion of four more HIV patients, the number of affected people in the district Shikarpur has jumped to 36.

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