Woman sets herself on fire in Peshawar police station

Officials say she was taken to a burns unit in Islamabad for treatment

PESHAWAR: Angered over a tenancy dispute, a woman walked into a Peshawar police station and set herself on fire.

The woman suffered extensive burns and was shifted to a burns unit in Islamabad in critical condition.

According to officials at the Kutwali police station in the provincial capital, 28-year-old Salma — who had been divorced by her husband soon after their marriage — had been living with a couple in the capital for the past four years.



SP City Shahzada Kukab told The Express Tribune that the couple started demanding that Salma pay them rent for staying in their house.

“Salma went to the police to lodge a complaint against the house owner and his wife for demanding money,” Kukab said.

The matter, though, was referred to a council of local elders who decided that Salma should pay the couple Rs7,000 and to find another place to live

“When she went to the house to collect her clothes and other belonging, the couple told her to return the next day, Kukab said.

He added that when Salma returned the next day, the house owner’s wife, Rabia, tussled with Salma and told her that her belongings were being handed over to the Kutwali police and that she can collect them from officers at the precincts.

This, however, angered Salma who doused herself with a flammable liquid.

She marched into the station, and before anyone could do anything to stop her, set herself on fire.



“[It] left her completely burnt,” said Kukab, noting that she had suffered 98 per cent burns on her body and had been rushed to a burns unit in Islamabad by the police and a local councillor.

He added that they were looking after her out of pity since her family had also expelled her.

“She was a drug addict and not completely in her senses,” the police officer added.

Imran Takkar, a rights activist, told The Express Tribune that the woman had burnt herself inside a police station which was unusual.

“This is strange and it should be properly investigated,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2018.