Police arrests main accused for burning to death schoolteacher in Murree

MURREE: Police arrested Master Shaukat, the central suspect who is believed to have burnt alive Maria, a schoolteacher from Murree for rejecting his son's marriage proposal. 

According to details, Murree police took Master Shaukat into custody for burning Maria. Two days earlier, Maria had lost the battle for her life at PIMS hospital in Islamabad. The victim had been brought in with 85% of her body burnt and doctors had informed Maria's family that it would take a mircle for her to survive.

Before her death, Maria had recorded her statement to the police in which she had claimed that her parents had been away to a nearby village to attend a funeral and she was alone with her little sister when Master Shaukat and his four accomplices entered her house and started beating her. After dousing her in petrol, the suspects set her on fire.

In her statement to the police, Maria had alleged that her only crime was that she had refused the marriage proposal of Master Shaukat's son, who was already married.   

This is not the first case of violence against women that has made headlines in recent months.

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.

In April a disabled 22-year old under treatment girl from Swat was allegedly raped by a male nurse on night duty at PIMS. The hospital brushed the incident for two days before launching an inquiry and suspending their staff member.