The sisters have been arrested in the Punjabi city of Gujranwala, Pakistan, following the incident, per the Daily Mail.
The father, whose name is being withheld to protect the identities of the girls, was attacked on January 1 and succumbed to his injuries in hospital on January 7.
“The girls said that they decided amongst themselves to find a ‘permanent solution,’” said Rizwan Tariq, a senior police official involved in the investigation.
The incident took place in the Punjabi region of Pakistan. Credit: pop_jop/Getty
According to authorities, the two step-sisters alleged that their father had been r*ping the elder girl for a year and had twice attempted to assault the younger one.
“We both planned to kill our father for sexually assaulting us,” the sisters reportedly told police.
The sisters admitted to tying their father with ropes, taking petrol from his motorcycle, and setting him on fire while he slept.
One of their siblings reportedly informed their paternal aunt about the incident. The aunt called emergency services and accused the man’s two wives of assisting the girls by intoxicating him before the attack.
The father, who had ten children from three wives, lived in a rented house with his family. Local reports state the girls are believed to be 15 and 12 years old and come from different mothers.
The mothers, who reportedly knew about the abuse but were unaware of the murder plot, are also under scrutiny. One of the wives has been arrested, while the second is being questioned.
“We expect to present them before the court in a few days, as soon as we finish the investigation,” Tariq added.
The city of Gujranwala. Credit: Altaf Shah / 500px/Getty
The incident has once again brought attention to Pakistan’s struggle with sexual violence and the broader issue of justice for victims.
The case follows several high-profile reports of sexual violence in Pakistan that have sparked outrage both locally and internationally.
In August 2024, a 28-year-old woman, claiming to be a tourist from Belgium, alleged she was gang-r*ped over five days after being abducted in Islamabad. The woman was found tied and abandoned on a street.
She told police she had been in Pakistan for six months.
However, subsequent investigations revealed discrepancies in her claims, with the Belgian Embassy and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) stating there was no record of her entering the country.
One suspect was arrested, but police remain uncertain about the woman’s identity, with the arrested man alleging she was mentally unwell and carried no identification.
This case followed a 2022 report of an American vlogger who alleged she was gang-r*ped by her guide and another man in Punjab.
According to her statement in the First Information Report (FIR), the men recorded the assault and used the video to blackmail her.
“We stayed in a hotel at Fort Monroe where both suspects gang-r*ped me and also made a video of the act to blackmail me,” she alleged.
Authorities arrested two suspects, including the woman’s host, who had reportedly taken her to the hotel under false pretenses.
