PHOTO: AFP
MANSEHRA: A district and sessions court in Mansehra has ordered the relevant authorities to exhume the bodies of two women who are suspected to have been a victim of honour killing.
The remains will be exhumed on Monday and an autopsy will be carried out.
City police station SHO Javed Khan told The Express Tribune on Saturday he received an intelligence report about the murder and the secret burial of the two women. They have been identified as 22-year-old Khalida Bibi and 17-year-old Ruqaya Bibi, daughters of Noorur Rehman.
“I visited the graveyard and found two new graves,” he said.
Javed ordered a raid at the house of Muhammad Jan in the same locality.
According to Javed, Sher Zada, his relatives Rasool Khan and Umat Khan – residents of Pattan, Kohistan who had settled in Mansehra – were taken into custody.
Truth will out
During interrogation, Sher Zada said his sister-in-law, Khalida Bibi, wife of Muhammad Jan, and her sister Ruqaya Bibi were buried after they died following a brief illness. However, upon further enquiry, Sher Zada changed his statement, saying he was cleaning a pistol in his house on Friday. The pistol accidentally went off, killing both of them on the spot.
“We buried both of them without informing the police,” he added.
Trail of suspicion
However, the SHO suspected this was a case of honour killing and became a complainant in this regard.
City police registered an FIR against the accused for the murder of two women and forwarded the case to Mansehra district and sessions court.
The court ordered the exhumation of the bodies in the presence of a judicial magistrate. It also gave a three-day physical remand to the accused. According to Javed, police have been deployed at the graves of both the women.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2016.
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