TEENAGER BEATEN AND BURNT TO DEATH FOR REFUSING MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

                                       

A Pakistani teenager was set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal from a man twice her age has died.

Maria Sadaqat, 19, a teacher, was attacked by a group of men Sunday at her home near the town of Murree, according to media reports. She died Wednesday in an Islamabad hospital.


According to security officials and her family members, the perpetrators beat the victim severely, then drenched her in petrol and set her body ablaze before leaving her for dead.
"Maria was at home baby-sitting her 5-year-old sister while her family went to a funeral in a nearby town," said Rafaqat Abbasi, her uncle who talked with CNN.

"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."
The horror of what had happened set in Monday night when her family returned home to the village of Davel outside Murree in northeastern Pakistan.

"Maria was lying on the floor, with 85% of her body covered in burns," the uncle said.
According to these reports, Maria was taken to the nearest hospital about 50kilometers away where she later died.

Hospital spokesperson Ayesha Ihsani said the woman had suffered burns over 85% of her body, she said,  “The poor woman was becoming better but then could not survive because most parts of her body had serious burn injuries,” Ihsani said.

Three people were arrested Wednesday in Islamabad in connection with the teenager's killing, said Nabeela Ghazanfar, Punjab police spokesman.
An arrest warrant is out for a fourth individual, according to the Murree police inspector.

Such attacks are not uncommon in Pakistan. Nearly 1,100 women were killed last year by relatives who thought they had dishonored their families, the Human Rights Commission found, according to the BBC.