RAWALPINDI: A team of doctors, accompanied by a judicial magistrate and police officials, conducted the exhumation of a teenage girl’s body who was allegedly killed for honour after the gravedigger identified her grave at Chatis Graveyard, Pirwadhai, on Monday.

Initial findings of the doctors suggested that Ms Sidra, 18, was suffocated with a pillow.

Her neck bones were fractured due to torture. She was killed six months after her marriage, on July 17, 2025.

As part of the investigation, police have arrested the father, brother, uncle and ex-husband of the deceased Sidra.

The grave had already been flattened by the accused in an attempt to cover up the crime.

However, the arrest of the gravedigger and others helped the police identify Sidra’s grave. She was reportedly murdered following the decision of a jirga in the Pirwadhai area.

Meanwhile, police investigating the high-profile case have rounded up nine accused who are currently under physical remand.

Police sources said that, besides the arrests of nine people, including the woman’s father, brother, and uncles, more arrests are expected in light of the ongoing investigation.

According to sources, the team of doctors, led by a female doctor, conducted a postmortem on the deceased’s body. Initial findings confirmed that she had been suffocated with a pillow.

After completion of the postmortem, she was reburied in the same grave. Judicial Magistrate Qamar Abbas supervised the exhumation, while SDPO City DSP Azhar Shah and his police team provided security during the entire process.

The team of doctors collected forensic samples before reburying the body.

The grave was cordoned off using screens.

The accused were brought to the graveyard with their faces covered, under tight security.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2025