Oct. 31 (UPI) — Police in Pakistan have arrested a woman in the deaths of 15 family members, who they say consumed poisonous milk.
Police in Muzaffargarh, a city in south Punjab, said the woman wanted to “avenge” being married to her husband against her wishes earlier this year.
According to police, the bride left her husband and intended to stay with her parents last week — but her family sent her back to her in-laws.
The woman then allegedly mixed poison in her husband’s milk, which he refused to drink. The man’s mother, however, unknowingly used it to make a traditional yogurt-based drink called lassi.
The milk was ultimately served to as many as 27 people — 15 of whom died. The others were hospitalized.
Police arrested the woman, who they said confessed to the crime — and told them her cousin, who she’d wanted to marry, furnished the poison. He was also arrested.
Initially, the woman said a lizard had fallen into the milk and poisoned it.
Pakistan has strengthened laws to prevent child marriage and forced conversion, but it doesn’t cover a partner chosen for them by their family.
