A court sentenced a woman to death on Monday for burning her daughter alive as punishment for marrying without the family’s consent.
Parveen Bibi confessed before a special court in the city of Lahore to killing her daughter in June for what she said was “bringing shame to the family”.
Police said 18-year-old Zeenat Rafiq married Hassan Khan and eloped to live with his family a week before she was killed.
The court sentenced Rafiq’s brother Anees to life in prison after the evidence showed her mother and brother had first beaten her, before her mother threw kerosene on her and set her on fire.
Pakistani police escort Perveen Bibi (C), who allegedly killed her own daughter by burning her alive, as they go to local court in Lahore on June 10, 2016. -AFP
After Rafiq’s murder in a poor district of Lahore, none of her relatives sought to claim her body, police said, leaving her husband’s family to bury her charred remains after dark in a graveyard near the city.
Violence against women is rampant in Pakistan, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Citing media reports, it said there were more than 1,100 “honour killings” in 2015.
Pakistan’s parliament passed legislation against “honour killings” in October, three months after the murder of outspoken social media star Qandeel Baloch. Her brother was arrested in relation to her strangling death in July. (Reuters)
