MANDI BAHAUDDIN: Another shameful case of gender-based violence in the country came to the limelight as a girl was allegedly burnt alive by a man for rejecting his marriage proposal in Mandi Bahauddin on Friday, police officials said.
In her statement to police, the victim, who is in her mid-twenties, said that following her rejection of the marriage proposal, Tassawur (the suspect) hoodwinked her and took her to his home. There the suspect tied her hands and legs and then set her on fire.
The neighbours immediately rushed to the site of the incident and doused the fire after hearing the desperate calls for help.
The woman was shifted to Aziz Bhatti Hospital Gujrat for treatment. According to doctors, the victim had sustained horrific burn injuries covering 60pc of her body.
The suspect, however, was arrested and was being interrogated.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif also took notice of the incident and sought a report from the district police officer (DPO).
He ordered police to take action against the suspect and directed the administration to provide the best healthcare facilities to the victim.
Despite a number of laws passed by the National Assembly and respective provincial assemblies of the country, it appears that the laws have not deterred violence against women.
Recently in Karachi, a teenage couple, accused of violating the Pashtun ‘code of honour’, was killed with electric shocks. The murders were allegedly executed by family members on the orders of a jirga.
First to fall prey to “misconstrued” notions of honour was the 15-year-old girl. By the next sunrise, the 17-year-old boy too was no more.
There was no mourning, no last rites and no prayers for the departed. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in the ongoing year there have been as many as 37 reported cases of women, who were set on fire for rejecting marriage proposals. Pakistan had been ranked second worst country in the world for gender equality for a second year in a row by The World Economic Forum’s global gender gap report in 2016.
Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2017.
