Man Sets 16-Year-Old Daughter On Fire Over Her Phone Addiction, Girl Critical

A man set his teen daughter on fire because of her phone addiction in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Monday.

Mohamad Mansuri, 35, got into an argument with his 16-year-old daughter about her being continuously hooked to her mobile phone. He also thought she was talking to a boy.

Following the argument, he smashed the phone on the ground, doused her in kerosene and set her ablaze. Neighbors heard the girl's screams, rushed to the house and immediately took her to the hospital. She suffered 70 percent burn injuries and is now battling for life.

The incident took place when other family members were not at home.

“On Monday afternoon, Mansuri saw his daughter speaking on her phone when he went to tell her to serve lunch. He thought she was speaking to a boy, which made him angry,” said Jayant Bajbale, deputy superintendent of police, local daily the Hindustan Times reported. "We have arrested Mansuri under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and he has been remanded in police custody after being produced in court on Tuesday."

Speaking about the case, another officer said, “Mansuri didn't approve of his eldest daughter, a Class IV dropout, speaking to her friends on the phone. He had twice warned her to not do so, and they once had a heated argument over the issue. The girl told her father that her mobile was lost, but when he caught her talking on the phone on Monday again, he got furious and poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze."

"Mansuri is now repenting his action and says that the crime was committed in a fit of rage," said the officer, DNA India reported.

In a similar incident in 2015, an Australian father set his three-year-old daughter on fire because she was “too beautiful,” leaving the child with “severe and life-threatening burns’ to 13% of her body.” The man also poured petrol on the girl’s seven-year-old autistic sister.

An off-duty police officer, who stayed next door, rushed to the house after she heard the girl's cries. When she entered the house she saw the girl in her cot with “her whole head on fire.” She then saw the man, Edward John Herbert, pouring petrol on his older daughter in her bed. She asked the man to move away, grabbed both the children and ran out of the house. He was found guilty and jailed for 17 years.