A man has set himself on fire outside the Muzaffargarh district courts when a suspect in his daughter’s rape case was acquitted after nine years of legal proceedings.
Allah Bakhshaya poured petrol over himself and set himself ablaze on Friday after the court’s decision.
Rescue 1122 said authorities shifted him to the District Headquarters Hospital in critical condition, where doctors reported that he has suffered 45.5 percent burns.
The court acquitted the suspect on Thursday, citing a lack of evidence, nine years after the case was registered.
Allah Bakhshaya said that he has spent years pursuing the case and added that his daughter’s husband has also divorced her because of the rape.
In another similar incident that happened in July, a woman identified as Shamim Mai, died by suicide after police failed to register a rape case against an influential suspect in Multan.
Shamim had submitted a complaint at a police station on July 10, but police did not register an FIR [First Information Report] against the accused despite her medical examination, a private media outlet reported.
Following her death after consuming poisonous pills, Multan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Usman Akram Gondal suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) New Multan over negligence and ordered the arrest of the relevant Station House Officer (SHO), Sub-Inspector (SI) and muharrar (police station record keeper).
The RPO also ordered the registration of a case against Badla Sunt Police Station SHO Azim Zulfiqar, Sub-Inspector Waseem and Muharrar Naeem over alleged negligence in handling the complaint.
