Pak Girl Dies After Being Set on Fire for Rejecting Proposal

Police said that 4 men barged into her family home earlier and that 3 people have been arrested.

Representational image of a crime scene. (Photo: iStock)

An 18-year-old Pakistani schoolteacher succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday after being set ablaze for refusing a marriage proposal, reported CNN.

The girl, identified as Maria Abbasi, was beaten and then drenched in petrol before she was set on fire, leaving her for dead, according to her family members.

Her uncle, Rafaqat Abbasi told CNN,

Maria was at home babysitting her 5-year-old sister while her family went to attend a funeral in a nearby town. At the funeral her family was alerted that she ‘was on fire.’ Initially they thought there had been some sort of an accident, perhaps a pipe had burst or something.

Her uncle also added that the burns covered 85% of her body and since there is no major road passing through the village, she had to be carried on a chair to the closest road to get her into an ambulance. She was taken to a hospital 50kms away, where she later passed away.

The police told CNN that four men had barged into her family home earlier and that three people have been arrested in Islamabad in connection to the killing.

Investigation regarding the case is still ongoing.

Violence against women remains rampant in the country, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.