RAWALPINDI: The investigation into the murder of a married woman in the Pirwadhai area, allegedly on the orders of a jirga, has been broadened as a police team was dispatched to Muzaffarabad to obtain attested copies of the deceased Sidra’s court marriage and other relevant documents.

According to sources, a police team investigating the murder of Ms Sidra was sent to Muzaffarabad to collect attested copies of her marriage to Usman, their recorded court statement, and other evidence related to the case.

Usman, who was accused of kidnapping Sidra by her ex-husband, was also accompanying the police team during their visit to Muzaffarabad, the sources said.

The police investigating the case will also get the statements of Sidra and Usman recorded in a court of law under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

They will also record the statements of other individuals close to Usman and his family in Muzaffarabad to ascertain whether Ms Sidra was brought to Rawalpindi forcibly or not.

According to Sidra’s birth certificate, she was born on June 12, 2004.

As part of the investigation, the police have recovered the utensils used for washing the deceased woman’s body before burial.

However, they have yet to recover the pillow with which she was reportedly suffocated.

Sources said that police have also obtained a specimen from the father of the deceased girl for a DNA paternity test to determine the biological father of the deceased.

Samples from the deceased’s body had already been taken during her exhumation and postmortem. All samples will be sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) for analysis on Friday.

Police have already arrested nine suspects in the honour killing case.

Two of the suspects, a gravedigger and the secretary of the graveyard, have been sent to judicial jail after completion of their physical remand. However, the remaining seven suspects, including the father, brother and uncle of the deceased woman, will be produced before the court on Friday after completion of their four-day physical remand.

Police have also confiscated the DVR and CCTV cameras from the house of the head of the jirga for decoding and to review the activities between July 11 and July 17, when the woman was killed.

A team of doctors conducted an exhumation of the victim of the alleged honour killing after the gravedigger identified her grave at Chatis Graveyard, Pirwadhai, on Monday.

Initial findings of the doctors suggested that Ms Sidra was killed by suffocation with a pillow. Her neck bones were fractured due to torture, reportedly following a jirga’s order. 

Published in Dawn, Aug 1st, 2025