RAWALPINDI: Police will exhume the body of a young girl who died under mysterious circumstances in the jurisdiction of Jatli police station after she was brought back by her parents following an attempt to leave home last week.

The girl was laid to rest five days ago and the police had suspected honour killing at the time in light of a statement by their official. However, to confirm their suspicions, they had decided to approach the court to seek an order for her exhumation. It will be carried out today to ascertain the actual circumstances of the death.

In light of the burial, a detective foot constable – posted at the Jatli police station – reported that he was on duty near Syed Adda when he received information that a 17-year-old girl who was a first-year student and a resident of Syed Kasran had been missing from her home.

He further said in his report that after her parents knew that she had been missing, the girl’s father and uncle launched a search and finally she was found at Syed Adda. Her parents suspected she had attempted to elope with someone.

Suspects in rape-murder case sent on judicial remand

The detective foot constable suspected that the girl was killed, either by poisoning or suffocation by her family members for honour, for allegedly running away from her home and was laid to rest to hide the crime. In his statement, he said legal proceedings needed to be initiated against the accused.

In a separate rape-murder case, four suspects were sent on judicial remand to Adiala jail after spending four days in police custody in connection with a murder case reported last month.

The DNA of the two male suspects was collected while their mobile phones were sent to a forensic science laboratory for analysis. The 21-year-old was allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted for months by her brother-in-law and his accomplice and became pregnant. However, she was killed by the suspects to hide the crime.

According to initial investigation, the suspects continued to rape the girl but when she got pregnant, the four arrested suspects planned to poison her, the police said.

As the scope of the investigation expanded, the police detained another person who used to park his vehicle in the house of the primary suspect.

The aforementioned four suspects were detained by the police after the exhumation of the body, which revealed that the girl was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.

It was suspected that she was murdered with the help of poisonous pills and buried to cover up the rape in the jurisdiction of the Jatli police.

“In light of the circumstances and events, initial investigation, post-mortem and forensic evidence, solid evidence of rape and poisoning of the victim emerged,” a police spokesman had said.

It may be noted that a local magistrate’s court had granted the remand of the detained suspects, including the brother-in-law of the deceased, her neighbour, a maternal aunt, and another in-law.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025