ATC hands death sentence to mother who burnt daughter alive

LAHORE: An Anti-terrorism Court on Monday announced death sentence for the mother of the girl burnt to death over love marriage in Lahore’s factory area earlier this year.

The girl identified as Zeenat had been strangled first then set ablaze by her family members over marrying a man of her choice in June.

In today’s hearing, Zeenat’s brother, who was also a prime suspect in the murder, was given a life sentence.

Girl’s mother Parveen had confessed to killing and burning her daughter alive, while the son was a major facilitator in the heinous crime.

Earlier this year, Zeenat had married a man named Hasan. Police had taken into custody the girl's mother Parveen and her brother, who were prime suspects in her murder.

Hasan, her husband, in a statement to police had said that Zeenat feared for her life because her mother opposed their marriage. "I had sent her to visit her family after her paternal uncle guaranteed her safety," Hassan said.

Zeenat’s own family had refused to accept her body.

According to the post-mortem report, when she was set on fire the girl was still breathing, as traces of smoke were found in her respiratory tract.

Her entire body except her feet had scalded. No traces of poison were found in her stomach, the report had said.

Love marriages are considered to bring dishonour to families in extremely conservative parts of the country.

This was the third case where victims- all girls-- have been burnt to death.

A 19-year-old girl who was set ablaze for refusing a marriage proposal succumbed to her wounds on June 1 at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science. Maria, a school teacher in Murree was brought to PIMS with 85 percent burn injuries. Her family claimed that five people doused her in petrol and set her on fire after she refused to become the second wife of a man.

In May, the gutted body of a girl was found from a vehicle in Abbottabad. Police investigation into the case revealed that the 9th-grader was kidnapped from her house, sedated, murdered and then set on fire following a decision of a local Jirga.