Suicide?: ‘Mentally ill’ girl sets self on fire

Police said investigations into the incident will be launched after allowing three days for mourning

ISLAMABAD:

A girl died of severe burns at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Burn Centre on Friday. Doctors said that Kinza, 20, was admitted to the burn centre with more than eighty per cent burns, which made her situation precarious. They added that she was initially treated at a local hospital lacking the required facilities, which further deteriorated her chances of survival.

Her father, Muhammad Younas, told the Loi Bher police that she was mentally ill and set herself alight at night at their home in Pakistan Town while the family was asleep. She was badly burnt before the fire could be extinguished. She was shifted to a local hospital for emergency treatment and later to Pims when her condition kept deteriorating.

The body of the girl was handed over to the family for burial. Police said the family did not want an investigation into the incident as, they claimed, it was a suicide.

However, the police said there were discrepancies in the account of the incident narrated to them and the statements recorded by the girl’s father. They said investigations into the incident will be launched after allowing three days for mourning and that the girl’s family will be probed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2012.