College student killed for ‘honour’ in Pindi: police

A first-year college student was poisoned to death in the name of ‘honour’ in Rawalpindi last week, according to a first information report (FIR) filed by police on Tuesday.

The FIR filed with Jatli police station, seen by media.com on Wednesday, stated that the victim’s father and uncle were booked on the complaint of a police officer.

“The victim’s parents said she disappeared from their home at 8pm on February 3,” the FIR read. “The girl’s father and uncle then searched for her, eventually finding her and taking her home.”

According to the FIR, the girl’s family “suspected that she had established relations with someone” and ran away from home, alleging that she was poisoned to death by her relatives.

“The girl’s family poisoned her in the name of honour because she ran away from home,” the FIR read. “She was buried in a cemetery in Syed village, but news of her death only came out today (Tuesday).”

The victim’s mother stated in the FIR that the girl was engaged to her cousin, whose father is one of the two suspects.

“My daughter suddenly disappeared between 8:30pm and 9pm on February 3 and her uncle brought her home around 1am that night,” she was quoted as saying. “My brother-in-law [the suspect] took my daughter to her room. The next morning, we found her dead.”

The victim’s mother added that the girl’s uncle and father planned to kill her, further alleging that the uncle forcefully fed her wheat laced with poison. “In the presence of everyone in the house, he announced ‘We needed to kill the girl to preserve our honour’,” the mother said in her statement.

The suspects were charged under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (punishment for murder) and 311 — which specifies the penalties that can be awarded by a judge regardless of whether or not a compromise has been reached in a case of murder — of the Pakistan Penal Code.

In Pakistan, ‘honour’ killings continued to claim the lives of women throughout 2024, perpetuated by deeply ingrained societal beliefs about family dignity and shame.

Data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) showed that in 2024, ‘honour’ killings continued to be a serious issue across Pakistan, with particularly high figures in Sindh and Punjab. From January to November, a total of 346 people were killed due to ‘honour’ crimes in the country.