Human Rights Voices

While the UN devotes its human rights operations to the demonization of the democratic state of Israel above all others and condemns the United States more often than the vast majority of non-democracies around the world, the voices of real victims around the world must be heard.

Pakistan, November 2, 2012

Parents Attack Daughter With Acid For Talking to Boy

Original source

ABC News

Pakistani parents in a remote village allegedly killed their 15-year-old daughter by pouring acid all over her face and body after they caught her talking to an unknown boy, according to local police and hospital officials.

The incident happened in Kotli, a small town in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The parents allegedly confessed to the attack after she spoke with a boy outside their house.

According to local police, the girl's father, Mohammed Zafar, became enraged when he found his teenage daughter, Anvu Shah, with the boy outside their home.

In many rural areas of Pakistan, deeply conservative social traditions forbid girls to speak or be seen with boys who are not related by blood.

"Zafar beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife," Tahir Ayub, a police officer, told Agence France Presse.

"She was badly burnt, but they did not take her to hospital until the next morning, and she died on Wednesday," he said.

Local media reports, citing hospital officials, say her death was slow and excruciatingly painful. The girl was brought to hospital with third degree burns all over her body, including her face, arms, and chest. Police were reportedly alerted to the attack by one of Shah's female relatives.

Her parents have now been charged with murder.