Teenager School Teacher Burned To Death In Pakistan For Refusing Marriage Proposal

An 18-yaer-old schoolteacher, Maria Abbasi, was burned to death in Pakistan for refusing a marriage proposal.

According to family members, the perpetrators had beaten her first, drenched her in petrol thereafter and set her ablaze at her home in village of Davel outside Murree in northeastern part of the country, about 50 kilometers away of Islamabad.

Maria’s uncle Rafaqat Abbasi said, “Maria was at home babysitting her 5-year-old sister while her family went to a funeral in a nearby town.”

He added the family was alerted at the funeral about the incident to which they thought to be some sort of accident, probably a pipe had burst.

When the family returned home they found Maria lying on the floor with 85 percent burns. The teenager was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in capital Islamabad and later was declared dead.

So far three people have been arrested in connection to Maria’s killing and a fourth individual is on run.

Punjab province chief minister has assigned a team to investigate the killing.

Murree police inspector Sohail Abbasi said four men had barged into Maria’s parents’ home.

Violence against women is rampant in Pakistan, said independent Rights Commission of Pakistan. Last year 76 similar cases were investigated.