Addiction: Woman burnt alive by husband

Family says husband had threatened her.

MULTAN: A man suspected of burning his wife in the Muzaffargarh district on Thursday was arrested on Saturday.

The incident occurred in the Teacher’s Colony in the Alipur subdistrict on Thursday when Sahar Afshan was allegedly burnt by her husband, Muhammad Kashif.

Shamsad, a neighbour, said he took Afshan to Alipur THQ hospital after hearing her screams in the evening. “When I entered their house, she was on fire and her husband was nowhere to be seen,” he said.

Malik Muhammad, Afshan’s father, told The Express Tribune that his daughter had told him that her husband was asking her for money.

He said the couple had been married for 10 years and had three children. “Kashif was known to be a drug addict and an alcoholic. He had lost half of his leg in an accident.”

He said he had forced his wife to sell part of her agricultural land for Rs500,000.

He said that their three children, aged 8, 6 and 4, had witnessed the crime and had been unable to speak ever since.

Her brother Usman said Afshan had told him on Wednesday that her husband was threatening to kill her if she did not sell the rest of her land.

Afshan was taken to Bahawal Victoria Hospital and later to the Kharian CMH Burn Unit. She expired there on Friday.

Alipur THQ hospital MS Dr Zulfiqar Haider said over 90 per cent of the victim’s body had been burnt.

The postmortem report from Alipur THQ hospital said she also bore recent injuries from a severe beating. It also says she had been soaked with petrol before the burning.

Kashif was arrested on Satuday by City SHO Faisal Nadeem.

DSP Taimur Aziz said the suspect was being kept at the Alipur City police station and had confessed to killing his wife.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd,  2012.