Pakistan parents arrested for acid killing

Al Jazeera

Couple allegedly beat and poured acid on their 15-year-old daughter after seeing her talking to a boy.

Pakistani officials say police have arrested a couple for allegedly killing their 15-year-old daughter by throwing acid on her because she was seen talking with a young man. Local government official Masood-ur-Rehman says the couple was arrested on Tuesday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Police officer Imtiaz Ali says the parents confessed to killing the girl a day earlier because they believed she had sullied the family's honour. Local police officer Tahir Ayub told AFP news agency that the father, Mohammad Zafar, had had suspicions about his daughter Anvu Sha and became enraged when he saw her with a boy outside their home on Monday. "Zafar beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife. She was badly burnt but they did not take her to hospital until the next morning, and she died on Wednesday," Ayub said. Doctor Mohammad Jahangir of the state run Kotli hospital confirmed the death, saying the girl was brought to hospital in a "very critical condition" with almost 70 percent burns. Anvu Sha's married elder sister alerted police and demanded they investigate the incident in Khoi Ratta district, 140 kilometres north of the state capital Muzaffarabad. "The parents have confessed, saying that they suspected the girl had illicit relations with a boy," Ayub said. "We have registered a murder case against the girl's father and mother." Honor killings are widespread in Pakistan, where scores of women are murdered every year for marriages or relationships not approved by their families.