Home alone: Girl kidnapped, house torched

MANSEHRA:

A man allegedly abducted a teenage girl and then torched her house in a village of Mansehra, police said on Wednesday.

City police quoted Ejaz, a resident of Sajawal Sharif village, saying he was on duty at the main campus of Hazara University while his daughter Natasha Bibi*, 17, was home alone. In Shah’s absence, Muhammad Ehsan from the same locality allegedly barged into the house and whisked Natasha away.

Shah claimed Ehsan also assaulted Natasha when she resisted and then set the four-room house on fire, destroying belongings worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. The house was completely gutted. Police have registered a criminal case against the accused under sections 365B, 436 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

*Name changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2014.