Gujar khan  -  The body of a suspected pregnant victim of rape and murder was exhumed in Natha Chatter village of Gujar Khan by Jatli police along with a medical team from the district headquarters hospital on Wednesday to perform a post-mortem in order to identify the real cause of her death. According to details, the civil judge of Section 30 in Gujar Khan, Hasnat Aslam Gondal, had directed the medical superintendent of DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi on Saturday to make arrangements for the disinterment of the grave and postmortem of the deceased after an application was submitted by Jatli police station.

According to details, sub-inspector Israr Hussain, the head of the Homicide Investigation Unit (HIU) at Jatli Police Station, had moved the court to get permission for exhuming the grave of the 20-year-old unmarried deceased, Sidra Bibi, who lived with at the house of her sister’s husband, and was allegedly raped and poisoned to death after she was allegedly discovered to be seven months pregnant. 

According to police investigator, the alleged incident came to the notice of police after it was alleged by some local social media activists that the woman was buried at the local graveyard in Natha Chatter on January 13 after alleged violent acts. He said that the incident was not formally reported to the police for legal action, and the police were investigating the whole matter on their own under Section 174(2) of the CrPC to identify the real cause of the woman’s death and to validate the claims made on social media. 

Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, SI Israr Hussain, confirmed on Wednesday evening that the body had been exhumed by the medical team of DHQ Hospital, and a post-mortem had been performed before reburying the body. He added that chemical samples from the body had also been collected for forensic analysis and had been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) in Lahore. He predicted that it may take around three months to receive a forensic report from the PFSA, which would ascertain the real cause of the woman’s death, adding that further action would be taken in the light of the report. In a bid to expedite forensic investigations, local residents have appealed to the Chief Minister of Punjab to deploy mobile, fully equipped units at exhumation sites of domestic violence, child abuse, and police torture victims.

This initiative seeks to mitigate delays in receiving chemical and forensic analysis results from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore.