July 4, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
Fighting for her life at PIMS Hospital in Islamabad, 28-year-old Sania Bibi sustained over 60 percent burns across her body in a horrific attack. She alleges her father-in-law and husband were responsible for the assault, which occurred on June 8, the second day of Eid, when violence erupted in their household. Her ongoing legal battle saw its most recent hearing today, July 4.
Sania’s harrowing account
In a video statement given under Section 164 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Sania recounted the terrifying events:
“The fight started in the evening. My father-in-law hurled extremely filthy and abusive language at me and beat me. I ran outside to seek help, but my husband followed, dragging me back inside. His father was right behind him. My husband snatched my child, then his father threw petrol on me and set me on fire. Both men fled through separate exits, leaving me ablaze. I followed my husband outside, screaming, until he finally threw water on me. For hours, I lay there, crying for help, but no one came. They brought me to the hospital two hours later, continuing to beat and threaten me along the way, ordering me to tell doctors it was a kitchen cylinder explosion. They said, ‘We will also kill your son; you should tell the doctors that you were burnt because of the kitchen cylinder exploding.’”
Sania explained that even at the hospital, she was left unattended for a long time. Her attackers stole her earrings and nose stud, and she wasn’t offered water until a doctor intervened. “Even during that, they continued to threaten me, saying, ‘We will destroy your brothers and your son, just the way we have destroyed you just now, and burnt you—just tell them you got burnt by a cylinder.'”
Sania is pleading for government and authority intervention, desperate to regain custody of her 11-month-old son, who is currently with her in-laws. “My child is with them – I don’t know what his condition is – I want my son with me. I don’t trust them at all. Whatever state I am in right now, it is because of them – both my husband Adil and my father-in-law. If anything happens to me, then they will be responsible for it.”
The legal battle begins
The initial First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Kirpa police station on June 8, around 6 PM. Sania Bibi, as the complainant, stated that her husband, Adil Mehmood, and father-in-law, Mustasib Hussain, fought with her and hit her head with a stick. While she initially claimed not to know what happened afterward, she suspected her father-in-law set her on fire. The FIR included clauses 336-B (hurt caused by a corrosive substance), 324 (attempt to commit murder (qatl-i-amd)), and 34 PPC (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). However, it notably omitted clauses from the Domestic Violence Act, including Section 4.
Advocate Munir Ahmed, Sania’s lawyer, believes the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) might be more applicable due to the fear such an act would spread. Regardless, the judge has already ordered the inclusion of Domestic Violence Act clauses in the FIR.
“After Sania’s brother received a call from PIMS Hospital informing him about the incident, it was then that the legal proceedings began,” said Advocate Munir. He arrived at the hospital, where the medico-legal officer (MLO) informed him of Sania’s severe burns. Once the Chief Medico-Legal Officer (CMLO) deemed her fit, her statement was officially recorded under Section 164/PPC.
Court proceedings and delays
In the first court proceeding, the defense counsel failed to appear, leading to an automatic adjournment. The associate lawyer cited the senior lawyer’s engagements in Rawalpindi as the reason. Sania’s legal team — comprising Advocates Munir Ahmed, Javed Tareen, and Aimen Malik — requested the judge to wait. The court took a short break but by the end of working hours, the defense still hadn’t appeared. Consequently, the court extended the accused father-in-law’s interim bail until June 21 and adjourned the hearing. Interim bail had been granted earlier against surety bonds worth Rs30,000.
“At present both the accused have been arrested and are in judicial custody at the Adiala jail,” Munir Ahmed told Voicepk. “They were on physical remand after the FIR was filed, and the father-in-law sought a pre-arrest bail, which was under consideration for the next seven days. Because of this and changing statement of the victim herself that it took some time for the challan to be filed. The challan has still not been filed. And while the police has been cooperating with us, it is always uncertain until the police files the challan and presents it to the court.”
Once the correct clauses are added to the FIR, the police will prepare the chargesheet.
Shifting statements and evidence gathering
For the first two days, Sania Bibi maintained that her burns were due to a cylinder explosion. (It was during this time that her father-in-law sought pre-arrest bail.) Two days later, she revealed that en route to the hospital, they continued to beat and threaten her, forcing her to lie about the cylinder blast. However, her Section 164/PPC statement finally unveiled the truth.
The marriage, which took place two years ago, had normal arguments until the physical abuse began. Now, Sania’s immediate battle is for her life, followed by the fight to reclaim her son.
“For now she has no sister and her mother is busy taking care of her in hospital,” says Advocate Munir. “Worse, she is not receiving the healthcare she should be getting.” He adds that due to a lack of beds in PIMS Burns’ Ward ICU, Sania was moved to a general ward. Without air conditioning, the intense humidity is hindering the healing of her burns.
Waiting for the challan
The delay in Sania’s accurate statement also delayed the challan (police report detailing evidence and charges). The police have now gathered crucial evidence, including the petrol bottle and the impounded motorcycle used to procure the fuel.
“Until the challan has been filed, the police has flexibility,” says the lawyer. “By now however the victim has already given her 164 statement and so the police is also being careful, but still.”
Sania’s father-in-law was arrested on June 23 and held on police remand. On Friday, July 4, their remand ended, and both accused were transferred to judicial custody.
“We tried to recover as much evidence as possible where the case would be solid for both the accused,” says Munir Ahmed. “Usually it is due to lack of evidence or intentional gaps in the FIR that Domestic Violence cases like this one get low chances of conviction. We are trying to make an air tight case.”
Seeking help
Sania’s voice is being amplified by the Jugnu Project in collaboration with the Brown Network.
Zohra Ahmed from the Jugnu Project spoke to Voicepk and expressed her disappointment at the situation.
“It is disappointing and disheartening that there is a lack of sensitivity regarding the issue,” she said. “The police have little awareness of domestic violence laws, and so they do not add that to the FIR which affects the case when it goes to court. Besides this, when the survivors come to hospital there is little training of whether to notice whether the individual is a potential survivor or not, and therefore little chance of a medicolegal examination being carried out.”
Ahmed says that an organized and automatic system must be in place to carry such steps out. “There must be agencies on the ground to provide this service,” she adds. “Otherwise victim families and survivors have to reach out to people like us to amplify their case, or else their cases are dragged out in court for a long time.”
Regarding the case of Sania Bibi, Ahmed says that the tragedy was that she would have to undergo multiple surgeries – the first of which was yesterday. “She was in absolute pain because of that. But for the other surgeries – who will be paying for those? The government must set aside some kind of help for such survivors.”
While Sania fights for her life, there is a flicker of hope that she may survive. But whether she will get justice is another question.