MANSEHRA: A magistrate remanded a man in police custody in Kolai-Palas district on Friday for allegedly uploading edited pictures on social media that led to the killing of a girl on the orders of a jirga.

Police arrested suspect Mohammad Yaseen in Barsharyal village here and produced him before the local court to seek his physical remand for investigation.

“The magistrate handed the suspect over to police for six days on remand,” district police officer Mukhtar Khan Tanoli told Dawn.

He said the investigation would reveal the motive of culprits for editing pictures of two girls and two boys and uploading them on Facebook.

The DPO said more arrests were expected shortly over the matter.

A girl was killed allegedly by her father on the orders of a jirga in Barsharyal area after social media pictures showed her and her friend in the company of two na mehram (stranger) boys of their village, an act considered taboo in the area.

However, the other girl was rescued by the police.

Mr Tanoli said the pictures were cropped and combined in a video with the addition of a local folk song in the background to show girls and boys in a “romantic relationship.”

He said the police had taken Aiman Dar, whose name was used for the Facebook account ID, into protective custody.

The DPO said joint efforts of the police and FIA’s Cyber Crime Wing led to the arrest of Mohammad Yasin and recovery of a mobile SIM card used by him to make a Facebook account to upload those edited photos.

He said the slain girl’s father and uncle were also in police’s custody.

A high-level committee formed by the caretaker chief minister is still probing the matter, according to FIA Cyber Crime Wing deputy director Mohammad Asif.

He said all those involved in the matter and their intent would be “exposed” shortly.

The committee also has Hazara Division’s commissioner and deputy inspector general of police along with Kolai-Palas DPO as members.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023