BAHAWALPUR, Jan 22: A 20-year-old girl was electrocuted by her relatives on the order of a Punchayat in the name of honour in a village near Musafirkhana town, 25km from here, it was learnt on Saturday.

According to police, Saima, of Basti Hakra, allegedly eloped with a village boy, Dilawar, who works in Karachi.

Her parents brought her back from Karachi on Friday morning and reportedly electrocuted her at night after the Punchayat, mostly comprising relatives, ordered that she be executed.

Police learnt about the incident on Saturday when Saima’s body was about to be buried. A police team reached the place and seized the body.

Saima’s relatives claimed that she had committed suicide by taking pesticides.

The body was taken to the Mubarakpur Rural Health Centre for post-mortem. As the X-ray machine of the RHC was out of order the body was sent to Ahmedpur East and after an X-ray it was brought back to Mubarakpur where an autopsy was carried out.

District police officer Babar Bakht Qureshi said the actual cause of death would be known after a chemical examiner’s report. However, he said that the initial autopsy carried out by a lady doctor suggested that Saima had either been electrocuted or burnt through boiling water or both.

The DPO said that Saima’s mother had tried to stop the autopsy through a local court in Ahmedpur East, but the judge rejected her plea.

Musafirkhana police station inspector Afzal Lodhi told Dawn that the Punchayat, set up by Saima’s relatives, was headed by her uncle Abdus Sattar, a former councillor. He said that Abdus Sattar, Saima’s father Abdul Majid and her two other uncles Akram and Akbar had been arrested.

Source: Dawn

Date:1/23/2011