MIANWALI, Nov 9: Police have registered the murder of three girls in the name of honour without naming the alleged killers 27 days after the incident.

The report was made by a woman named Sadaf Fatima who described in her application to the district police officer that the daughters of a tyre dealer of civil lines, Amanullah Khan, and two hoteliers of Yarookhel, Mazhar Khan and Abdul Malik (brothers), had absconded from their homes last month and were recovered by their parents from a hotel in Faisalabad a few days later.

The girls were kept at a house in Yarookhel, tortured for a week and finally taken to the bank of Indus and killed. It was believed that the body of a young girl found downstream at Chashma Barrage was that of one of the ill-fated girls. Since no one owed it, the police buried it in Kundian as an unidentified and unclaimed body.

Although the news spread in the city in no time, no one dared report it to the police for fear of the influential accused.

The police chief finally raided the houses of the parents on Thursday night. Next day, the three fathers met DPO Rao Sardar Ali Khan to get a case registered against two uncles of the deceased girls.

However, the police had already launched the FIR without naming the accused.

Ms Fatima also sent copies of her application to the chief justice and the Punjab governor and IGP.