A young bride, merely nineteen years of age, lost her battle with death after allegedly being subjected to brutal acts of domestic and sexual violence at the hands of her husband, Ashok. The victim, identified as Shanti, succumbed to her injuries at Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre in Karachi on July 23, 2025, just days after her marriage a month prior, on June 15. Barely a month had passed and she had to exchange the vibrant dresses of a newlywed bride for a shroud. This marks yet another tragedy that echoes the horrors of domestic violence in Pakistani society.

Who was ‘Shanti’?

Shanti was a resident of Shah Baig Lane, Lyari, a densely populated, working-class area of Karachi known for its ethnic and religious diversity. On June 15, Shanti and Ashok came together following an arranged marriage, but she, nor her family, had any inclination that she would soon have her life cut short.

The horrors of her married life began almost instantaneously. Just two days into marriage, she was at the mercy of her husband, enduring repeated acts of sexual violence and physical abuse, along with the alleged use of a metal pipe that caused grievous internal damage to Shanti’s intestines. She was subjected to marital rape and, as some reports claim, “unnatural sex.” Her body had signs of mutilation and barbaric acts of physical assault, while she was also threatened with death. The authorities described the brutality of June 17 as “inhumane torture.”

Left in critical condition, and with damaged intestines, she was initially taken to a private hospital in Garden, Uncle Saria Hospital, by her in-laws but before she could receive adequate treatment, she was forced to return home. On June 30, after days of suffering from the aftermath of such brutality, she finally decided to confide in her brother about the horrors of her married life.

On July 4, her brother, Saiyon, brought her to the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Center in a severely critical condition. The medical authorities confirmed that Shanti had gone through brutal acts of sexual torture. There, she underwent three major surgeries but remained in a coma for nearly three weeks before passing away on July 23 due to pulmonary arrest.

Dr. Summaiya Syed, the police surgeon who examined Shanti, confirmed that the injuries on her body were consistent with gruesome acts of repeated sexual violence and physical torture.

Legal Action

The Baghdadi Police Station in Lyari registered a First Information Report (FIR) on July 5, based on a complaint filed by Shanti’s brother. The FIR, lodged under Sections 324 (attempt to commit murder) and 376-B (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code, detailed the horrific nature of the assault, including allegations that Ashok used a foreign object, specifically a metal pipe, during the attack. Ashok was arrested, and a post-mortem examination awaits the approval from Shanti’s family to further confirm the extent of her injuries.

Ashok Kumar confessed to the crimes against Shanti in a judicial statement recorded under Section 164 of the Pakistan Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before Magistrate Kalsoom Mustafa Sahto.

The Grim Reality of Domestic Violence in Pakistan

This case not only underscores the pervasive nature of domestic violence in Pakistan but also identifies the silent corroborators of such crime. The institution of family failed with Shanti’s in-laws playing the part of accomplices in the brutality that Ashok subjected his newlywed wife to. Moreover, the hospital that Shanti’s in-laws took her to initially failed to comply with their oath to protect lives by negating the act of reporting the glaring signs of domestic abuse of Shanti to the authorities.

The most tragic detail was the hesitance Shanti had been forced to contemplate over the decision of notifying her own family about the horror that she had been facing, a sentiment echoed by so many women who feel shackled to such relationships.

According to a 2019 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an estimated 80 to 90% of women in Pakistan go through some form of domestic abuse, often within marriage.

The Pakistani society and its closely held cultural norms that often times supersede the other institutions of knowledge in the country prioritize family honor over individual safety, and coupled with economic dependency and lack of awareness, it frequently traps women in cycles of violence that they find, at many times, impossible to break through and end up losing their lives.