‘Honour’ killing: Court fixes July 28 for exhuming body

RAWALPINDI: Judicial Magistrate Qamar Abbas Tarar has fixed July 28 as the date for exhuming the body of a newly married woman allegedly killed in the name of ‘honour’ in the area of Pir Wadhai Police Station.

The court directed the medical superintendent of Holy Family Hospital to appoint a medical officer for this purpose. The court directed the chief officer of Municipal Corporation to complete all arrangements for the exhumation on the given date, while the Pir Wadhai SHO was directed to deploy at least one constable for security at the grave. The court remanded the three accused arrested in the case to police on physical remand for another three days and directed that the accused be presented in court on July 29.

Sub-Inspector Shabbir Hussain requested the court that the body be exhumed to find out the real cause of death. And the postmortem be allowed because on July 11, the deceased Sidra went to Muzaffarabad with her friend Muhammad Usman. Upon learning this, the deceased’s cousin and former UC chairman Ismatullah Khan and the deceased’s father, Arab Gul, etc., brought her back on July 16 and killed her and secretly buried her in the Chhati graveyard of Pir Wadhai on July 17. Later, the grave was also defaced to erase the marks. Therefore, the deceased’s exhumation and postmortem be ordered.

The court was informed that the notices issued by the court to the legal heirs could not be complied with because their houses were locked. The investigation revealed that the deceased did not run away but was killed, on which the court ordered digging the grave on July 28 at 10am under Section 176 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The investigation officer presented in the court those arrested in the case, the secretary of the cemetery committee, Saif-ur-Rehman Khan, gravedigger Rashid Mahmood and rickshaw driver Khial Muhammad. The officer, in the remand paper given to the court, requested an additional 5-day physical remand of the three accused, taking the position that since the first two accused had identified the grave during the investigation, their presence was necessary at the time of exhumation.

The court issued an additional 3-day remand of the three accused and directed the investigator to present them on July 29.