A man in Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday confessed to dousing his wife in petrol and setting her afire last month following a domestic altercation, Superintendent of Police (SP) Gul Naseeb told DawnNews.

The woman died in Tank’s Christian Hospital on Saturday after remaining admitted there for 20 days. The burning incident had occurred on October 23.

The police had registered a case on the complaint of Mohammad Khan, father of the woman, saying that her husband, Faiz Mohammad, “doused my daughter in petrol and burnt her alive” after she refused to allow him for a second marriage.

He told the police the accused had kidnapped his daughter and had forcibly married her one-and-half years ago, and the couple had a two-month-old daughter.

The complainant said the deceased had told her mother when she visited her in the hospital that she had been burnt by her husband after she refused to allow him a second marriage. The victim’s mother did not disclose the matter for fear of the family of the accused, he added.

Officials at the Christian Hospital said the victim’s family had told them that she had suffered burns while cooking in the house.

Mir Akbar Shaheed police station SHO Tahir Salim had registered the case on the complaint of Muhammad Khan and arrested the accused.

At the time of arrest, the suspect was claiming that his wife had committed suicide. However, later during investigation he confessed to his crime and admitted to burning his wife.

The victim's father also said that his daughter had been forced into marriage at the age of 17.