Note: Some parts of the story might be disturbing for some readers.

A female fake faith healer who torched a girl to get her rid of bad spirits in 2022 was given a life sentence on Saturday by an anti-terrorism court in Punjab’s Faisalabad.

Judge Muhammad Hussain announced the decision.

The court also known as ATC imposed a fine of Rs20.2 million (two crore and twenty-lac rupees) on her for burning the girl to death by blazing hot coal and hot rods.

Shamim, the fake faith healer, was found guilty of killing the victim identified as Sonia Sultan two years ago in the district’s Ghulam Muhammadabad area.

She was charged with sections 336B (punishment for hurt by corrosive substance) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code in the complaint registered against her by the victim’s brother on December 7, 2022.

Sultan was mentally weak, according to the first information report.

Shamim was charged with sections 336B (punishment for hurt by corrosive substance) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code in the complaint registered against her by the victim’s brother on December 7, 2022.

Sultan was mentally weak, according to the first information report.

The convict is the mother-in-law of a man named Waseem, who also lives in the same town where the bereaved family lives.

As per the report, the convict first applied hot rods on the victim’s legs on December 6, 2022, when she arrived at their house for the treatment. The action affected her health, but the healer claimed that a spirit was inside her she would treat her with coal gas (dhooni).

The family believed in such treatments and did not share it with anything.

“On December 7, 2022, they came to our house and called us to bring coal. They burned coal and asked us to stay outside the room. Suddenly, after hearing my sister screaming we entered the room and saw that the accused and Waseem held her sister from her hands and hair to keep her head on burning coal,” it said and added that the victim continued to scream due to severe pain.

She passed out and her eyes, chest, and face were burned. They assured the family that she was “fine” and the “thing inside her body” had been removed. They claimed that the victim would soon be fine.

The FIR states the family believed in them and did not inform anyone. It added that the victim fled the area after the family accused her of affecting the woman.

She was admitted to Allied Hospital in Faisalabad, it said and added that the accused persons threatened them when they told them about the woman.