A 14-year-old pregnant Afghan girl succumbed to her injuries in Kabul’s Isteqlal hospital days after she was set on fire by her in-laws. Identified as Zahra, the victim was set on fire in central Ghor province. The accused, however, managed to flee the area after committing the horrific crime, reports the Khaama Press.
Reports suggest that Zahra was initially the victim of ‘Baad’, a traditional practice of settling disputes among families or tribes.
Zahra’s father had given her hand to the family of his new wife he had married around two years ago. Provincial acting police chief of Ghor, Zaman Azimi said that investigation is underway and Zahra’s father-in-law is in custody.
Zahra’s death is another such example of growing violence against women in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in its report last year said that “statistic of violence against women, obtained from the registered cases of violence against women during the first six months in 1394 exceeds 2579 cases.”
