Nashwa death case: Arrest warrants issued for 6 absconding suspects

A local court in Karachi on Monday issued warrants for the arrest of six absconding suspects, including two doctors, nominated in the Nashwa death case.

Nashwa, a nine-month-old girl, was suffering from diarrhoea when she was allegedly given improper treatment at the Darul Sehat Hospital on April 7 that left her paralysed and eventually led to her death. Subsequently, parts of the hospital had been sealed and several staffers were arrested.

The hospital’s owner Amir Chishti and vice-chairman Syed Ali Farhan along with six absconding and four detained administration and medical staffers were nominated in a case registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 322 (punishment for qatl bis-sabab) 337 (Shajjah: causing hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the minor’s father Qaiser Ali.

Read: Nashwa’s death is tragic. What can be done to prevent such incidents?

A judicial magistrate (East) today ordered the arrests of all six absconding suspects, including the hospital’s director (HR) Irfan Aslam, executive director Dr Shehzad Alam, nursing head Dr Rizwan Azmi, chief medical officer Dr Syed Sharjeel Hassan, night duty doctor/RMO Dr Attiya Ahmed and another Syed Shabbar Rizvi, directing the authorities to produce them before the court in the next hearing.

It is pertinent to mention here that in the case’s previous hearing on May 3, Dr Hassan and Dr Ahmed had managed to flee the court of an additional district and sessions’ judge after their interim pre-arrest bails were cancelled.