MURREE: A 19-year-old school teacher was tortured and set on fire after refusing a marriage proposal on Tuesday, reported DawnNews.

The victim's uncle, Nasir Abbassi, stated the family had gone to a social gathering and the victim was alone at home when the incident occurred.

"A group of five men forcibly entered the house, locked her in a room and beat her up," claimed Abbassi.

The suspects, after beating the victim, set her on fire and threw her in a ditch behind the victim's residence, added Abbassi.

The family, after being informed by a local boy, rushed home and took the girl out of the ditch and took her to the local hospital for treatment.

Treatment was denied at the local hospital, citing lack capability to deal with burn victims. The girl was then transferred to PIMS in Islamabad.

The family of the girl approached Murree police to register a case, but the case was not registered and no action taken, claimed the girl's uncle.

The girl has suffered burns over 85 per cent of her body, doctors told DawnNews. They added they are trying their best to save the girl's life, but her condition is serious.

Earlier in May, a 16-year-old girl was strangled and set on fire in Galyat's Makol village after orders given by a local jirga.

Abbottabad police had said a 15-member jirga called by the Makol village councillor Pervez ordered for the deceased, Ambreen, to be killed and set on fire as punishment for helping her friend escape the village to marry of her free will.

The girl was taken from her home to an abandoned house where she was drugged, killed, and placed in the backseat of a parked van. The van was then doused with petrol and set on fire.