Karachi honour killing: Teams dispatched to KP to arrest prime suspect
October 12, 2017
KARACHI: Police teams were dispatched to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday to arrest the prime suspect in the case of a couple’s electrocution in Karachi.
A tribal jirga (council) had ordered the couple's execution in October when the families had lodged their case with the influential group of elders following their elopement.
The final challan of the case will be presented after DNA reports of the murdered boy and girl are received.
Four of the accused, who were arrested by the police, are in jail on judicial remand.
The couple was tied to a wooden bed and electrocuted by family members last month. Police said the girl was aged 15 or 16 and the man was around 18 years old.
"The (jirga) decided that the girl would be electrocuted by her own father and uncle and the boy by his father and uncle," police officer Amanullah Marwat told AFP, adding that the families later buried the bodies in secret.
Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in Pakistan.
Under the previous legislation, the culprits could escape punishment if they were pardoned by members of their family.
But in July last year the high-profile murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch, whose brother confessed to the killing, reignited calls for reform.
Parliament has since passed a law aimed at scrapping the ability to forgive "honour" killers. But critics contend some loopholes still exist.
