In a chilling case of alleged honor killing, a man in Charsadda’s Jabbi Korona area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been arrested for reportedly murdering his 17-year-old married daughter by strangling her.
Initially declared a natural death, the girl was quietly buried, but timely action based on intelligence reports led police to uncover the truth.
SHO City Police Station Bahramand Shah told TNN that the incident took place last Thursday. For three days, locals and elders visited the girl’s home to offer condolences, believing she had died of natural causes. However, police received confidential information suggesting foul play and decided to act on the day of the “Qul.”
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When officers arrived at the house, the girl’s father, Riaz, was missing. During questioning, police detained the victim’s mother and paternal uncle. During interrogation, the mother confessed that her daughter had maintained contact with a man after marriage and had eloped with him. A month later, the same man brought her back, but her father, considering it a matter of shame, allegedly killed her the same night by strangling her.
Police arrested Riaz five days after the incident. The mother’s statement under Section 164 has been recorded in court, detailing the murder. Authorities have also sought court permission for exhumation to collect forensic evidence and strengthen the investigation.
SHO Bahramand Shah remarked, “The accused thought he could bury the truth with her, but no matter how deep the crime, the truth always surfaces.”
A case under Section 302 (premeditated murder) has been registered, and further investigations are underway.
Meanwhile, women’s rights organizations have condemned the incident, calling it yet another disturbing example of the rising trend of honor killings in Pakistan. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 392 women were killed in the name of honor in 2024. The Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) puts the number at 547. Alarmingly, only 0.5% of such cases result in convictions.
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