The police on Friday said they had arrested the primary suspect in the murder of a first-year college student who was poisoned to death in the name of ‘honour’ in Rawalpindi last week.

According to a case filed earlier this week, the victim’s father and uncle were booked on the complaint of a police officer. It said that 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 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.

A statement issued by the Rawalpindi police today said the murder’s primary suspect, the uncle, was arrested.

It said that according to the initial investigation, the suspect had allegedly killed his niece by poisoning her, adding that the suspect then tried to bury the body to make the incident look like natural death.

Consequently, a case was registered by the police, the body was exhumed from the grave, and a post-mortem was conducted.

The statement said the uncle was being interrogated and his accomplices and facilitators would also be arrested.

“The accused will be framed in court with solid evidence while investigating the case on its merit.

“A message has been sent by registering a case on the complaint of the police that the Rawalpindi police is the heir of the victim. All legal requirements will be fulfilled to ensure that those involved in the unfortunate incident are punished,” Rawalpindi City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said.

Separately, while speaking to Dawn.com, police Inspector Malik Sajjadul Hassan said that raids were being conducted to arrest other suspects while the samples from the victim were sent to the forensics laboratory.

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.