How Dangerous Is a Father with Reactionary Thinking? The Story of a Pakistani Girl in the UK

The Key Characters

1. Somaiya Begum — The 20-year-old victim
2. Mohammed Taroos Khan — Somaiya’s 53-year-old uncle
3. Mohammed Yaseen Khan — Somaiya’s father
4. Mohammed Dawood Khan — Somaiya’s uncle
5. West Yorkshire Police — Investigators
6. Bradford Crown Court — The court given the justice in this case
7. Leeds Beckett University — Somaiya’s university
8. Bradford Girls’ Grammar School — Somaiya’s school
9. Forensic Experts — Conducted the autopsy and analysis of evidence

The Chilling Discovery in a Garbage Dump

It was July 6, 2022, at 7:15 pm in Bradford, England. British police were actively searching for something near Fitzwilliam Street. All the people living there dump garbage in that place, and in between that garbage, police were searching seriously.

While searching, police noticed a carpet, And around the carpet, there were flies also noticed a lot of waste boxes on the carpet, And how that waste box looked means, It looked like the waste boxes were placed to hide the carpet.

When the police went near the carpet to check, There was an unbearable stinking smell. Now the police realized that what they thought was right. When opening the carpet, yes it was confirmed, there was a woman’s dead body in a decomposed condition.

They pulled the carpet away. Their suspicions were confirmed. The body of a woman was lying in a state of decomposition. Actually, the body was so decomposed that it was unidentifiable. But, the police know that it was Somaiya Begum, the 20-year-old who had disappeared 11 days earlier.

Who is Somaiya Begum…

Somaiya Begum

20-year-old Somaiya Begum who was a native Pakistani, was studying Biomedical Science at Leeds Beckett University in England. She also works part-time as a caretaker of elders.

Somaiya was excellent in her studies. She was a very kind-hearted person who shared love with others. But none of them showed love to her. She was handling many problems at a young age.

Somaiya Was Threatened Before

Somaiya’s father, Mohammed Yaseen Khan, decided to marry her off when she turned 20. But Somaiya didn’t want to get married. So she bravely went against her father’s decision in her marriage. But he threatened and forced her and started making marriage arrangements.

Unafraid of her father’s threats, Somaiya filed a complaint with the police with the help of her uncle Mohammed Dawood Khan. And the police who got the complaint investigated the case. They gave protection to Somaiya under the Protection of Forced Marriage Act.

According to this Act in England, no one can be forced into marriage. The government will do everything to help people escape from forced marriage. Somaiya’s marriage was stopped under this law.

Somaiya Leaves Her Home

Somaiya came out of her father’s house and started living in her uncle Dawood’s house. Her uncle Dawood and grandmother forbid Somiya’s parents from meeting her. Also, they got an order from the Police that if they wanted to meet her they should get permission from the police.

Because in these kinds of cases, they might usually come to meet the victims, and there is a possibility to do anything, that’s why this rule helps prevent such incidents.

Somaiya Begins to Feel Better

Somaiya’s uncle Dawood’s home (Image credit: dailymail.co.uk)

After left her father’s home and started living at her uncle’s house, some light came into Somaiya’s life. For all these years, Somaiya had studied regular education at Bradford Girls’ Grammar School. Due to her parents’ restrictions, she got extra classes through homeschooling and they locked her up at home without even sending her for extra-curricular activities, you can imagine how backward-thinking her family was in.

Somehow, she struggled and joined biomedical science at Leeds Beckett University, and her life became normal and she was very happy, Until That particular day came.

The Disappearance of Somaiya Begum

June 25, 2022. Somaiya’s uncle Dawood left home for work. He came home at 6:30 pm after finishing work. The door was opened. He entered the house thinking that the door wouldn’t be opened normally, And when he went inside his brother Mohammed Taroos Khan was inside. Taroos Khan is a very terrible person and a lot of petty cases against him.

Dawood was shocked to see his brother inside the house, immediately he sent him out. When he left, he started calling Somaiya, but There was no response from her. Immediately he started searching the whole house, But she was nowhere.

He was very surprised that Somaiya was not home, Because she wouldn’t go anywhere without informing him, So he panicked and called her but her phone was switched off.

So he started waiting, thinking that she might have gone out and would return soon. But even after midnight, Somaiya didn’t return home. He then started searching throughout the city, where she might have gone, but she was nowhere.

Somaiya’s Uncle Reports Her Missing

Without waiting, Somaiya’s uncle Dawood went to the police station around 1.00 pm the next day, narrated everything that had happened, and filed a missing complaint.

The police, who received the complaint, called her mobile number. But it was still switched off. The police came to know that she went missing after Taroos Khan came, so, They called Taroos Khan for investigation. But he did not pick up the phone.

So, the police went directly to the shipping container where Taroos Khan was staying. Taroos Khan, who was relaxing there calmly, Seeing the police without panicking asked, “What’s the matter?”

When they said, “We have been calling you for a while. Why did you not pick up?” He said, “I was busy. That’s why I did not pick up the phone.” Taroos Khan asked, “What was the problem?” calmly. “Yesterday evening, after you left your brother’s house, Somaiya went missing. Do you know anything about this?” the police asked.

To this, Taroos Khan said, “Yesterday I went to meet my mother. Somaiya opened the door for me. After that I didn’t see her, In fact when I left from there she was not there, And I don’t know anything else” like this as if a third person went missing, He answered without any concern that his brother’s daughter is missing. So, the Police came to know that Taroos Khan was hiding something.

Police Suspect Taroos Khan and Search for Evidence

Taroos Khan (Image credit: news.sky.com)

So they started checking his movements on the day Somaiya went missing. On June 25, in the CCTV camera, as he said, Around 1: 52 p.m. it was recorded that, he came to Dawood’s house. Not only that, in the afternoon, a CCTV camera three houses away from Dawood’s house Some voices were recorded and police who carefully listened to it, They heard a woman and a man fighting, But the sound was very low police couldn’t find whose voice it is.

After he left Somaiya’s house, he was rounding the city with his car. Similarly, when they checked the CCTV around his container house, the Police noticed the strange behavior of Taroos Khan, So they completely checked the container in which he was living. Near that container, there was a dustbin, and while checking it, they found a burned cell phone. The police recovered it and sent it to the forensic lab to find out whose it is, And like the police expected, it was Somaiya’s phone.

At the same time, police checked Dawood’s house where she was living, and on the carpet, they noticed some bloodstains. When they sent it to a forensic lab for testing, it was confirmed that it was Somaiya’s.

Also, police got another important CCTV footage, and what was there in that footage meant that the next evening after Somaiya went missing, that is, on the evening of June 26, Taroos Khan took his car and went to Fitzwilliam Street. There he went to an isolated place and dragged something heavy from his car, and they found footage of him disposing of something into that garbage. That’s when, on July 6, the events I mentioned at the beginning of the story started to happen.

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Arrest of Taroos Khan

Police sent Somaiya’s body for autopsy, And arrested Taroos Khan for investigating at the same time in the autopsy report, It was confirmed that it was Somaiya’s body.

But since it was decomposed, they couldn’t properly identify the cause of death. But, there was a four-inch metal spike in her back, and it went through her liver. So the doctor said that she might have died due to heavy bleeding.

Final Judgment, but the Mystery Remains

The trial began in court. Taroos Khan, who initially said that he didn’t do the murder at first, And as the trial went on, he accepted that he disposed of her body. But he didn’t accept that he killed Somaiya. At the same time, he didn’t reveal who killed her.

So his lawyer argued that he had no intention of killing her. Somaiya’s father, Yaseen Khan, went and settled in Pakistan with his family when this case began. So the police couldn’t investigate whether he was involved in this murder. Since CCTV footage and other evidence were against Taroos Khan, he was given a life sentence for killing Somaiya.

This much detail is only available in this case, but how he killed her and the other details remain unknown.

My opinion: It was definitely a planned murder, and I feel that Somaiya’s father, Yaseen, was definitely involved in this. Also, it’s a manslaughter. Somaiya’s independence touched her father’s ego. So, to prevent the woman from going against him, the spineless Yaseen did it. It is purely the thought of, I’m a man!, what can women do to men?, And how could a woman stand against men?. So, it is an arrogant murder. In this society, where there are 100 good men like Dawood, there are some dirty men like Yaseen and Taroos.

What do you think about this case?

Sources

Ref1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/somaiya-begum-murder-forced-marriage-b2301437.html

Ref2: https://www.scribd.com/document/784441990/Killer-On-Camera-The-Chilling-Case-Of-Somaiya-Begum

Ref3: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-64914696?

Ref4: https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-03-02/cause-of-students-death-impossible-to-determine-murder-trial-told

Ref5: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/somaiya-begum-uncle-who-murdered-university-student-niece-20-in-her-yorkshire-home-is-jailed-for-30-years-4065515

Ref6: https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-03-15/uncle-jailed-for-life-after-murdering-student-who-refused-forced-marriage

Ref7: https://news.sky.com/story/man-jailed-for-life-for-murdering-his-20-year-old-niece-who-had-refused-marriage-12834759

Ref8: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-64889500

Ref9: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/uncle-doesnt-know-who-killed-26421434