teenager dies after being set on fire for rejecting marriage proposal
An 18-year-old Pakistani schoolteacher died Wednesday from injuries after her body was set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal, police said.
The perpetrators beat Maria
Abbasi, then drenched her in petrol and set her body ablaze before
leaving her for dead, her family members told CNN.
"Maria
was at home baby-sitting her 5-year-old sister while her family went to
a funeral in a nearby town," said Rafaqat Abbasi, her uncle.
"At
the funeral her family was alerted that she 'was on fire.' Initially
the thought was there had been some sort of accident, perhaps a pipe had
burst or something."
The horror of what had happened set in
Monday night when her family returned home to the village of Davel
outside Murree in northeastern Pakistan.
"Maria was lying on the floor, with 85% of her body covered in burns," the uncle said.
Four
men earlier had barged into her parents' home, said Murree police
inspector Sohail Abbasi, who is no relation to the family.
"There
is no direct major road that passes through the village. We had to
carry Maria on a chair to the closest road to get her to an ambulance,"
said Rafaqat Abbasi, the uncle.
The
young woman was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in
Islamabad, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, for treatment, where she
later died.
Three people were arrested Wednesday in
Islamabad in connection with the teenager's killing, said Nabeela
Ghazanfar, Punjab police spokesman.
An arrest warrant is out for a fourth individual, according to the Murree police inspector.
Teenager burned in 'honor killing'
The chief minister of Punjab province has assigned a three-member team to investigate the case, according to the Punjab police.
Violence against women remains rampant in the country, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
In 2015, police formally investigated 76 cases of women being set on fire, according to the commission's latest report.
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