Rawalpindi authorities have exhumed the body of Sidra Arab, 17, on Monday as part of an in-law investigation into her murder apparently above honor.
Police said Sidra’s autopsy had been led to the Pirwadhai cemetery by a team from Holy Family Hospital, led by the principal doctor, Dr. Mishman Rehman. The medical advice also included Dr. Arif Saleem, the Muhammad Saeed mortuary supervisor and a hospital distributor.
The samples taken from the body will be sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore. The results should help determine the cause of death.
The preliminary results indicate signs of torture. Police sources have said that Sidra’s body was swollen due to water exposure, that her tongue was protruding and her neck bones were broken. The burial place would have been falsified to erase the evidence, despite strong precipitation on the day of the funeral.
Read: The man kills his wife for “honor”
Police think Sidra may have been strangled in a suspected honor. Hospital officials said the medical council would submit a report sealed to the court once the medico-legal tests are completed.
Eight suspects, including the former vice-president of the Union Council, Ismatullah Khan, were arrested. Police said the suspects have presented “extreme brutality” and are now presented to the court under special security. Investigators are looking for a prolonged physical dismissal for more interrogation.
Sidra’s second husband, Usman, and his father Muhammad Ilyas were brought to the cemetery for formal identification of the body. Exhumation and autopsy were carried out under judicial orders.
Sidra had married her second husband, Usman, in Muzaffarabad on July 12. According to court documents, she had appeared before a judicial magistrate a few days later, confirming that marriage was consensual and declaring that she feared for her life. She also asked for protection against the courts.
Usman went to the police shortly after his death and presented the marriage certificate and support documents. His father Ilyas published an alleged video declaration that Sidra had been taken from their home by armed members of a local jirga, who promised a respectful farewell but rather killed her.
Police said Sidra’s burial was organized to hide crime. Cemetery video surveillance images, burial tools and the ripens used to transport your body have been recovered. Officials also found that the relevant burial receipt had been withdrawn from the cemetery files.
The Jirga would have been led by Ismatullah Khan, a former vice-president of the Union Council and local merchant affiliated with PML-N. Party officials have since been publicly distant from him.
Investigators claim that article 311 of the Pakistan Criminal Code has been invoked, ensuring that the case cannot be settled in private and will continue under the state.
