Girl set ablaze for refusing marriage proposal

Police register case, launch hunt for suspect

THEKRI WALA:

A man on Tuesday allegedly set ablaze his cousin for refusing to marry him.

The victim was rushed to Allied Hospital Faisalabad. After registering the case, the police started raids to arrest the suspect accused.

The 32-year-old victim told police she was married in 2011 to Shahid Mehmood, son of Taj Mehmood, and the couple had a daughter named Noor Fatima.

The complainant stated she was not happy in her marriage and was living in Sialkot with her sister Nasreen Bibi.

Meanwhile, around two weeks ago, her cousin Sabir Ali, the son of Shaukat Ali, and a resident of Chak No 124RB called her and claimed that her husband Shahid wanted to divorce her. Sabir told the complainant to collect her divorce papers.

When the complainant reached Chak No 124RB, she asked Sabir about the divorce but he did not hand over any divorce papers. When the complainant told Sabir she was leaving, he demanded that she marry him.

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At the complainant’s refusal, her cousin allegedly opened the gas pipe while she was baking bread and set it on fire. The suspect allegedly set ablaze the complainant.

After the victim made noise, the locals reached the spot, rescued her and took her to Sangla Hill Civil Hospital.

The victim was then shifted to Allied Hospital Faisalabad’s burn unit. During this time, the victim called her husband Shahid and told him the whole situation.

Sahiyanwala police registered a case under Section 324 PPC against the suspect and started raids for his arrest.

Violence against women for refusing marriage proposal was not uncommon in the province.

On October 5, a man allegedly murdered his colleague after she refused to marry him in Faisalabad.

Reportedly, the suspect was a bank’s operations manager who shot dead the woman, a fellow customer service officer, for refusing to marry. Later, in a fit of rage, Mansoor shot her dead.

The victim was working as a customer service officer at the bank after completing her education.

She was allegedly harassed every day by the operations manager Mansoor Ali for not being friends with him. On the day of the incident, the suspect told Alia that if she won’t marry him, he won’t let her marry anyone else.

On February 19, three suspects abducted a girl in Gujrat who refused to marry after a friendship on social media.

Nasreen Akhtar, a resident of 203 RB Malikpur, filed a case in Mansoorabad police station which states that her 22-year-old daughter befriended Bahadur Ali on Facebook and he wanted to marry her. When the complainant’s daughter refused, he threatened to kill her.

On the day of the incident, the girl went to the bazaar for work and was abducted by three suspects, Bahadur, Rafaqat and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2021.