Husband and servant held after Rawalpindi woman found dead with hands bound, wire around neck

By Staff Reporter

RAWALPINDI: Police in Rawalpindi have detained a woman’s husband and the family’s domestic servant after she was found dead at an apartment in the city’s Lal Kurti area, in a killing her family says was made to look like suicide.

Hina Javaid, 45, was discovered in the bathroom of her flat in Askari Apartments on Thursday evening, her hands bound behind her back and an electrical wire fastened around her neck and tied to the shower rod. Police said her body showed clear signs of torture.

An FIR lodged at the Civil Lines police station on 20 August names Hina’s husband, his 78-year-old father and a domestic worker as suspects, under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code — charges relating to premeditated murder and common intention. The complaint was filed by her brother, Fahid Javaid.

According to the FIR, Fahid told police he received a call from his sister’s father-in-law at around 6.53pm on Thursday alerting him to an emergency at the property. He said he arrived with other relatives roughly half an hour later and found Hina’s body in the bathroom.

Fahid alleged his sister had endured “severe torture and mistreatment” at her husband’s hands throughout the marriage, and said he believed she may also have been given a poisonous substance before she died. He accused the suspects of trying to stage the death as a suicide.

The police report compiled at the scene recorded a ligature mark around Hina’s neck, an injury beneath her right lip, and bleeding. An initial postmortem examination supported evidence of strangulation, officers said, though a full postmortem report has not yet been released.

A team from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency examined the apartment and gathered evidence before Hina’s body was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital.

Police confirmed that Hina’s husband and the domestic servant have been detained on murder charges, while her father-in-law is being questioned as part of the investigation. It remains unclear whether he has been formally arrested; the family has publicly demanded that police take him into custody, saying he was named in the FIR but has so far evaded arrest.

Hina’s brother told police the couple had married in November 2025. Family members have also alleged that she was her husband’s second wife, and that his first wife had previously divorced him — a claim that has not been independently verified by police.

Investigators say statements have been recorded from those detained, and the case is being supervised by a team of senior police officers. The allegations set out in the FIR remain subject to investigation as forensic evidence is examined.

Hina’s family has appealed to Punjab Police to pursue all legal avenues in the case and ensure justice is served.

The case has drawn wider attention after actor Mahira Khan shared a letter from Hina’s family calling for justice on her Instagram Stories, expressing sorrow over the killing.