QUETTA, April 23: A man tortured his 12-year-old daughter to death in Nawan Killi, a locality on the outskirts of Quetta, police said.

They said on Saturday that Abdul Khaliq Kakar took Nadia Bibi into a room of his house and severely beaten her up with a stick. Neighbours hearing the cries of the girl gathered outside the house and appealed for mercy, but the man opened the door only after the girl had died.

According to the police, Nadia had tried to save her younger brother who was being beaten up by her father.

A medical report confirmed that the girl died because of excessive beating as marks of torture were visible on her body.

Salam Khan, a maternal uncle of the girl, told reporters that Khaliq had divorced his sister some time ago. He used to torture his wife.

The man has seven children. Six are living with him while his former wife took the seventh child, a minor girl, with her after the divorce.

Zarghonabad police have registered a case against Khaliq for killing his daughter. “We have taken the accused into custody and are interrogating him,” SHO Aajb Khan Kakar said, adding that the girl’s body had been handed over to the relatives after autopsy.