A court in Rawalpindi on Saturday remanded three suspects to police custody over an alleged murder and honour killing case of a newlywed woman.

Police had initiated the investigation based on information that a woman had been murdered in the name of honour in Pirwadhai, following a jirga in which members of both families participated. As the woman’s family and in-laws became aware that the police were secretly investigating the incident, the deceased’s husband registered a case with the police under Section 496A. Police sources had said that the case was registered by the husband on the same day the woman was allegedly killed by suffocation with a pillow.

According to sources close to the investigation, as many as eight people, including the gravedigger, the graveyard secretary, the rickshaw driver who transported her body to the graveyard, her husband and family members including her brother, have been detained by police in connection with the case.

Three of the total suspects were present in the court of Magistrate Qamar Abbas Tarar today, according to a court order seen by Dawn.com.

The judge approved the investigation officer’s (IO) request for custody, stating: “… Three-day physical remand of the accused for said purpose is hereby granted. Accused persons be produced before the court on July 29.”

In another order from today, the judge approved the application to conduct the exhumation of the victim’s body and scheduled it for July 28 at 10am. The judge directed the Holy Family Hospital’s medical superintendent to depute a medical officer who would arrive at the graveyard for the exhumation and also order the Pirwadhai Police station house officer to designate a guard at the victim’s grave until the exhumation.

The Rawalpindi tehsil medical officer was also instructed to provide sanitary workers for the process.

Separately, the police added Sections 109 (abetment), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (murder) and 311 (Ta’zir after waiver or compounding of right of qisas in qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code to the FIR on Friday.

City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani also told Dawn.com that a 10-member team was formed to assist in the investigation.

He said the team included various senior police officials further and IT experts of Rawalpindi Police, who would ensure timely support and the provision of technical evidence to the investigation officer from various institutions.

Hamdani said that the team would also conduct raids to ensure the timely arrest of more suspects in the light of information obtained from those detained during the investigation.

The incident comes a few days after police arrested at least 14 suspects for their involvement in the killing of a man and a woman in Degari area of Balochistan’s Quetta, who were shot dead on the orders of a tribal jirga ahead of Eidul Azha for so-called ‘honour’.

The arrests were made after a video of the killing went viral on social media, in which a group of people could be seen shooting the couple.

In Pakistan, ‘honour’ killings continued to claim the lives of women throughout 2024, perpetuated by deeply ingrained societal beliefs about family dignity and shame.

Data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan shows that in 2024, ‘honour’ killings continued to be a serious issue across Pakistan, with particularly high figures in Sindh and Punjab. From January to November, a total of 346 people fell victim to ‘honour’ crimes in the country.

The previous two years also saw a consistent rise in murders related to the so-called ‘honour’.