Trial starts in Sidra Bibi murder

RAWALPINDI:

The formal trial has commenced in the widely reported "honour killing" case of Sidra Bibi at Pirwadhai Police Station in Rawalpindi, with charges formally framed against all nominated accused.

The court has scheduled the recording of witness statements from March 26.

Meanwhile, Additional District and Sessions Judge Farhat Jabeen Rana granted bail to one of the arrested suspects, Ziaur Rehman, the victim's former husband, who had been in custody for the past five months.

The court directed the accused to furnish surety bonds worth Rs2 million. He had been charged with suffocating the victim by placing a pillow over her face, allegedly acting on the orders of a local jirga, leading to her death.

According to case details, eight out of the 19 principal accused in custody have now secured bail.

The victim had reportedly been verbally divorced by her first husband, following which she entered into a second marriage of her own choice. After this marriage, she was allegedly brought back from Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, and killed at her home on the orders of a jirga. The list of accused in the case includes the victim's brother, husband, father-in-law, father, sisters and mother-in-law, reflecting the involvement of multiple family members in the alleged crime.