Gujranwala family burns child to 'remove black magic'

GUJRANWALA: A four-year-old girl fell victim to the superstition of her family after they set her on fire to remove “black magic” and “evil spirits” from her body, ARY News reported.

According to reports, the four-year-old Gujranwala girl sustained severe burns and was referred to Lahore. Upon referral, the innocent child was shifted to a hospital in Lahore where the doctors examined her and declared that 50 percent of her body was severely burnt.

Following the incident, police arrested the girl’s mother, two brothers and a sister. Gujranwala officials claim that the family resisted the arrest; however, police finally succeeded, and a case has been registered against the family.

Initial investigation reveals that the child was set on fire as part of a ritual to free her soul from black magic and evil spirits.

Further investigation is underway.

Earlier, in a bizarre incident, police in Rawalpindi registered an abduction case against a “jinn” (supernatural spirit) following the disappearance of an 11-year-old boy.

The incident occurred in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where 11-year-old Saraqa Saif went missing from his home on January 21. When the boy failed to return after ten days, his father filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the Taxila Police Station.

The FIR contains a highly unusual account, with the complainant alleging that jinns forced his son to run away. The father claimed that this was not an isolated event, stating that supernatural entities had “abducted” his son several times in the past.

According to the plaintiff, while his son, Saraqa al-Seef, had been taken by jinns before, he had always returned home after a short period. However, this time, after ten days had passed without his return, the father formally accused supernatural spirits of kidnapping the child.

This is not the first time such a claim has entered the legal system. A similar case was previously reported in Lahore, where a mother lodged a case against jinns regarding the disappearance of her married daughter, a matter that eventually reached the courts.