Parents confess to killing girl over freewill marriage

The burnt body was found buried in a field; autopsy shows girl was strangled.

MULTAN:

The parents of a girl whose body was found buried in a field a month ago have confessed to killing her, police said on Monday. They said the parents had killed her for marrying without their consent. 

They said the post-mortem examination had revealed that the girl had been strangled and the body burned before she was buried.

Police said on October 6, some residents of the area had found Sadaf Naureen’s body buried in a field three days after she had been reported missing. Police were informed and the body exhumed and sent for a post-mortem examination. Police said the identification was initially based on her dress.

They said on October 3, the girl’s father, Riyasat Ali, resident of TDA-134, had lodged a kidnap-murder FIR at Saddar police station in Layyah against one Muhammad Khalid, a neighbour, who was arrested by the police.

However, during the investigation, police uncovered evidence against the girl’s parents. They were also arrested last week.  Police said on Monday, they confessed to killing Naureen because she had married a man of her choice without their consent.



District Police Officer Shaukat Abbas confirmed that the mother had confessed to helping her husband kill Naureen. She told police that they tied her hands and feet and tried to strangle her. They said they then covered her mouth with a cloth and set her on fire by putting petrol on her.

Her father said that she had “brought shame to the family” by running away with a man. He told police that he had decided to kill Naureen the day she married.

“I have been at ease after killing... I had been in torment while she lived” he told police.

Station House Officer Malik Rab Nawaz told The Express Tribune that the culprits will be presented in a court on Tuesday (today). The victim’s brothers, Qaiser Mehmood and Amir Mehmood, were also suspects in the case, he said. They will also be presented in the court along with their parents, he said. After their statements in the court, he said, Muhammad Khalid will be released.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2012.