Third time un-lucky: Woman sets husband on fire for 3rd marriage

Azam’s second wife Kausar has fled with her daughters and he has suffered over 70% burns.

CHINIOT:

A woman and her accomplices set her husband on fire on Sunday morning.

According to police officials, Bhowana tehsil resident Kausar set her husband, Azam, on fire after he expressed his intention to take a third wife. “Kausar was his second wife and Azam had married her without telling his first wife Ameena,” said a neighbour Faiz Shah. “When his first wife found out she left to live with her parents and they got a divorce. Now he wanted to marry again but Kausar found out,” he added.

On Sunday morning, Kausar and her friends Irshad and Qazim attacked Azam and tied him to a chair. Kausar then sprinkled petrol on him and set him on fire.

“They tied him to a chair and burned him. He has suffered over 70 per cent burns to his entire body and has been admitted to the hospital,” said Station House Officer (SHO) Naveed Murtaza. “The woman has escaped but we have people searching for her and she and her accomplices will be arrested within two days,” he said.

Kausar’s neighbours told police officials that Azam had already contracted his third marriage and when Kausar found out she went into a rage. “He insisted that he had not married a third time but had sought permission to do so,” the SHO said. Police officials said that they were searching Azam’s records to confirm his account.

Azam’s uncle Lal Supra said that he went to visit Azam only to find his body burned. “We immediately took him to the hospital but doctors say he is unlikely to survive,” he added. “My mother has tried to kill my father and I want her arrested. She had no right to do what she did even if he was married,” Azam’s son Asghar Ali told police.

Ali filed a case against his mother and her accomplices with Chiniot Police and said that he wanted his mother in prison.

Hospital officials at Allied Hospital said that Azam had suffered over 70 per cent third degree burns to his body and was unlikely to survive. “He was brought to us in critical condition and we have done everything we can to help him but it is unlikely he will survive. He is currently being housed in the burns unit and his son is with him,” Dr Zain Sarwar said. “Most of the injuries are to his face and upper body. He was also severely beaten before the burning,” he said.

Before he collapsed in the hospital, Azam gave a statement saying that Kausar had burned him and that he had not contracted a third marriage.

Police officials said that Kausar’s two daughters had also fled the area. Police officials have registered an FIR (vide 571-2011) under Section 324 and 24 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and are searching for the accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2011.