Punjab Social Welfare dept completes investigation in Iqra case

LAHORE: The Social Welfare Punjab Lahore Division has presented the investigation report to Director General (DG) Social Welfare Punjab on the case of late Iqra Kainat.

According to the report, a 14-year-old orphan Iqra was found dead on 6th February 2020.

She was first sent from Daar-ul-Aman to Kashana in Lahore on 14th July 2015 as per the court order of District and Sessions Judge Lahore.

Last year, the former caretaker of Kashana Afshan Latif arranged marriage of her son Abid Sanaullah with Iqra on 28th June 2019 on the willingness of the couple. Soon after the marriage, Kashana lost her contact with Iqra.

On 17th December 2019, Iqra was shifted to Bilquis Edhi Center Township Lahore on the orders of Baghbanpura police station as she was ill. She was later shifted to Ganga Ram Hospital which is in the same city.

She was discharged from the hospital later and returned to Edhi Center after getting her treatment from the hospital, the report stated. Iqra died on 5th February 2020, due to illness, the reports further revealed.

Police found her dead body in a mysterious circumstance from Edhi Centre on 6th February.  The investigative report revealed that Afshan Latif and Iqra’s husband Abid, arrived at Edhi Center to receive the deceased dead body, however, the police of Green Town police station sent the body to Jinnah Hospital Lahore for medico-legal formalities in which it was stated that the deceased’s cause of death was illness.

Iqra was the sole witness of the Kashana shelter house scandal. The Kashana scandal took place in November last year in Lahore a superintendent Afshan Latif in a video statement alleged that underage girls living in the shelter home were forced into marriages on the orders of Director General Social Welfare Afshan Kiran Imtiaz.

In the video posted on Twitter, she claimed that the director-general was involved in favoring provincial ministers and high profiles. The accused used to put pressure orphan girls, including those whose ages were between 15 and 16-years into marrying someone.