Pregnant Pakistani Woman Gets Nail Hammered Into Her Head to ‘Guarantee’ Birth of a Boy

In many parts of the Indian subcontinent, boys are still preferred over girls as they are believed to provide the parents with means of financial security after they grow up.

A pregnant Pakistani woman showed up at a hospital in the north-western city of Peshawar after having her head impaled with a nail, allegedly on advice of a "faith-healer" who had said that doing so would ensure she would beget a boy.

The staff at Lady Reading Hospital, quoted by the local English-language daily Dawn, said that it was still unclear whether the nail was hammered into the woman’s head by the shaman, or if she did it to herself on his advice.

Dr Haider Suleman, the resident neurosurgeon, told the daily that the woman was “bleeding” when she was brought to hospital and that the nail had “penetrated deep” into her skull.

He also said that the woman’s family had tried to remove the nail at home, failing which they brought her to the medical facility.

The woman was successfully operated and sent back, as per the doctor.

The victim reportedly told the hospital staff that she was already a mother to three daughters, and her husband had threatened to leave her if the fourth child also turned out to be a girl.

Police arrived at the hospital after learning about the incident through social media.

Police said that they were investigating the CCTV footage and the entry records at the hospital to determine the identity of the woman, according to a tweet put out from the city police’s official handle.

Regardless, Abbas Ahsan, the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), said in Twitter post on Tuesday that a “special team” had been constituted to bring to book the “fake pir (faith healer)” who had played with the life of the woman.

“The team will also investigate why incident was not reported to police by the treating doctor,” Ahsan further said.