Indian man sets 16-year-old daughter ablaze for using cellphone

Victim's mother says culprit believed daughter was talking to a boy on the phone

A man poured petrol over his 16-year-old daughter and then set her ablaze for talking using her cellphone in India's Maharashtra on Thursday.

Muhammad Murtaza, 35, the culprit, caught his daughter, who has been identified as Shaista, talking to someone on a cellphone.

In a fit of rage, he first threw the phone out of her hand and then proceeded to set her on fire after pouring petrol on her.



Upon hearing her screams, neighbours reached the scene and took her to a nearby hospital where she succumbed to her burn wounds during treatment.

Doctors say that she 70 per cent of her body had been burnt in the ordeal.

The victim's mother said her husband thought she was talking to a boy on the phone, however, this was not the case.

Local police have registered a murder case against the culprit, with an investigation into the incident under way.