The girl says she was beaten and burned, had her fingernails pulled out and was denied food and water
NEW YORK (TrustLaw) — An Afghan teenager, who said she was tortured by her in-laws and locked in a toilet for six months, will be sent by the Afghan government to India for treatment, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Company.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqui said Sahar Gul, 15, will receive treatment for multiple wounds allegedly inflicted by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who have been arrested. Police are seeking to arrest her father-in-law and husband.
The girl, who had been sold by her brother to her husband about seven months ago for $5,000, said the torture began after she defied plans by her in-laws to force her into prostitution. She said she had been beaten, burned with cigarettes, had her fingernails pulled out and was denied food and water while confined to a toilet.
Violence against women is widespread in Afghanistan, where the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission reported 1,026 cases of such violence in the second quarter of 2011, compared with 2,700 cases in all of 2010, according to the ABC report.
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