Woman tortured, burned to death after rejecting marriage proposal in Pakistan

Maria Sadaqat was the 19-year-old schoolteacher who died on Wednesday, June 1 after she was tortured and set on fire by a group of men in Muree, Pakistan for turning down a marriage proposal.

"She was badly tortured and then burned alive. We brought her to hospital in Islamabad but she succumbed to her wounds today," Abdul Basit, the victim's uncle, informed Agence France-Presse (AFP) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, as reported by The Express Tribune.

Sadaqat was able to provide a statement to the police that she had been beaten up by her five attackers before they poured petrol all over her and set her on fire. Neighbors heard her cry for help but by then she had already suffered major burn injuries.

BBC reported that Sadaqat's father points one of the attackers as the owner of the private school Dhok Kallar in Lower Dewal.

"She was teaching at their school," Aasia, the victim's maternal aunt, told BBC. "They sent in the proposal six months ago but the guy was already married and had a daughter. They wanted her to run the school after marrying the son of the owner of the school. Her father refused the proposal and they took the revenge by doing this."

Rafaqat Abbasi, Sadaqat's uncle, said that his niece was left behind to baby-sit her five-year-old sister while her family left for a funeral in a nearby town.

"At the funeral her family was alerted that she 'was on fire.' Initially the thought was there had been some sort of accident, perhaps a pipe had burst or something," Abbasi narrated to CNN.

He added that the family returned home Monday night and found Sadaqat lying on the floor with 85% burns on her body.

BBC's M Ilyas Khan reported that similar to other cases, the victims' relatives are under pressure to remain silent and resort to out-of-court settlements in order to preserve their honor.

"Your daughter is gone and they are going to malign her and your family's honour the more you highlight it in the media," BBC quoted one of the elders telling Sadaqat's father.

On April 29, a teenage girl was burned alive for helping out her friend to leave their village. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has documented 76 cases of women who were set on fire in 2015 alone.