SC issues notices to accused in Rawalpindi honour killing case after jirga rejects woman’s marriage choice

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the accused in an honour killing case involving a young woman from Rawalpindi, who was murdered after a jirga rejected her choice of marriage. A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, and comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, issued notices on an appeal filed by the Punjab Prosecution Department against the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench’s order granting bail to members of a jirga, including Zafarullah and Rafaqat Mehmood, on February 9, 2026. Zafarullah, the brother of the deceased woman Sidra, had sought post-arrest bail from the high court, which was granted on the grounds that other co-accused — Muhammad Saif-ur-Rehman Khan and Rashid Mehmood — had also been granted bail by the high court on October 30, 2025. An additional sessions judge in Rawalpindi had earlier granted bail to another accused, Sikandar, on December 10, 2025. The offence was committed in July 2025 in Fouji Colony, Pirwadhai, Rawalpindi. On Wednesday, Additional Prosecutor Punjab Ahmad Raza Gillani told the apex court that the girl was summoned from Kashmir, where she had married Usman, and was later killed on a jirga’s decision in front of her family. After the murder, last rites were performed by female family members, and the body was later taken to the local graveyard in a loader rickshaw. After the burial, grave markers were also removed, the court was told. The controversy stemmed from an FIR lodged on the application of Zia-ur Rehman, stating that his wife had eloped with Usman and that he later learned from locals that she had contracted nikah with him. The appeal contended that when the investigation team visited the scene of the incident in Pirwadhai, Rawalpindi, it was found that Sidra had been murdered on the jirga’s decision. Moreover, the accused filed a post-arrest bail application before the Additional Sessi...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan