The bodies of the teenaged couple, allegedly electrocuted for contracting a free will marriage, will be exhumed for postmortem examination on Wednesday in the supervision of a magistrate and a medico-legal officer, SHO Shah Latif Town Amanullah Marwat told Dawn on Tuesday.

Initial investigation into the murder suggests that the family members of the couple gave them electric shocks until they died before secretly burying the bodies at a graveyard in Sherpao Colony, Ali Hasan Brohi goth, he said.

Earlier while talking to Dawn, Malir SSP Rao Anwar said that the police came to know about the dual murder through an informer and a case was filed on behalf of the state. Subsequently, police arrested the fathers as well as some other family members of both the victims.

The families were enraged over the marriage of the 15-year-old girl and the 17-year-old boy, who had run away from their houses last month, he added.

The accused confessed to their crime, according to the police, and revealed that a jirga was involved in declaring death sentence to both the victims.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Pakistan, often by their own relatives, for going against their families' wishes in matters of love and marriage.

The Aurat Foundation’s annual report of 2016 showed 7,852 cases of violence against women.

According to Saima Munir, who works for the Aurat Foundation, there has been a 70 per cent increase in honour killings in the past year.

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