10-year-old girl's death at Lahore tuition centre caused by hanging: report

• Body handed over to grieving family.
• No torture marks found on body.
• Police detain property owner for questioning.

LAHORE: A post-mortem report on Friday revealed that the death of a 10-year-old girl student found at a tuition centre in Lahore’s Ichhra area was caused by hanging, while police continue investigating the incident.

Police handed over the girl’s body to her family after the post-mortem. According to the initial report, a clear ligature mark was found on her neck, while no signs of torture or forced assault were detected on her body.

Police said the door of the washroom — where she was found — was not locked when the incident came to light.

Investigators have sent fingerprints and other evidence collected from the scene to a forensic laboratory for examination, police said.

Meanwhile, police have taken the property’s owner into custody and launched a further investigation into the case.

The report comes after police registered a murder case after the 10-year-old girl was found dead in the bathroom of the private tuition centre. The case was registered on the complaint of the girl’s father, Muhammad Adnan.

According to police, The News reported, the victim 'N' had left her home to attend classes at the tuition centre in a house, where she had reportedly been studying for the past one-and-a-half years along with two other children of the same family. She was later discovered unconscious inside the centre's washroom.

Eyewitnesses said that after teachers and the child's family realised she was missing, they, along with local residents, broke open the locked washroom door. The girl was pulled out and rushed to the hospital. However, doctors pronounced her dead.

Speaking to the media later, SP Model Town said that investigators had initiated an inquiry and that the motive and circumstances surrounding the child's death would only become clear after the investigation and post-mortem report were completed.

Meanwhile, the victim's father recounted the sequence of events, saying he received a phone call informing him that his daughter had fallen unconscious at the tuition centre.

"I was informed that my daughter had fainted. She was brought to the hospital on a motorcycle with the help of local people," he said. He claimed that doctors asked whether there had been marks on the child's neck before the incident, but maintained that there were no such marks when she had left home.

"I believe someone has done this to my daughter. Who could do such a thing to children?" he said, while appealing to CM to ensure justice. Police officials have not ruled out any possibility at this stage and said all aspects of the case are being examined.

The death comes less than two weeks after 14 children died after the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Lahore. The dead children were aged 5 to 16 with most below 9.