The court hearing in the Hina Javed murder case was adjourned on Monday until September 30, as confusion over the legal representation of the accused, Zeeshan Arshad, caused delays in the proceedings. This development comes more than a month after the digital media executive was discovered dead in her Rawalpindi home.
Additional Sessions Judge Naseer Ahmed presided over the session and instructed the jail authorities to confirm with Zeeshan which of the two lawyers who submitted powers of attorney—Advocate Junaid Hassan or Hamza Abbasi—he preferred to represent him in court. Meanwhile, Shah Khawar, counsel for the complainant Fahad Javed, formally submitted his vakalatnama to the court. Following these submissions, the judge postponed the hearing until the end of September.
Hina Javed, aged 45, was found dead on August 20 in the bathroom of her apartment located in Rawalpindi’s Askari Apartments. Authorities noted that her body showed signs of physical abuse, including a wire around her neck, and was partially hanging from a shower rod. Her brother, Fahad Javed, filed a first information report at the Civil Lines police station under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, accusing her husband Faisal Asghar, her father-in-law, and their domestic worker of murder.
The initial postmortem report revealed strangulation marks on her neck, an injury beneath her right lip, and internal bleeding. Samples were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) for further analysis.
On August 23, a Rawalpindi duty magistrate authorized a three-day physical remand for Faisal Asghar and the domestic worker Zeeshan to facilitate further inquiry. The police also interrogated Hina’s father-in-law and established a seven-member investigation team led by Rawalpindi SSP Investigation Saifullah. Mobile phones belonging to Hina and three family members were confiscated as part of the investigation.
Notably, police alleged that the scene of the incident was staged to resemble a suicide. After requesting an extension, the court granted an additional three days’ physical remand for the suspects on August 26. The accused were taken to Lahore for DNA and polygraph tests during the investigation. Authorities claimed evidence suggested Hina’s body had been dragged into the bathroom and her neck tied with wire to simulate suicide.
Shah Khawar, representing Hina’s family, stated that the investigation was progressing correctly, with evidence collection and forensic examinations underway. Medical reports indicated a broken hyoid bone and signs of torture on the victim.
On September 3, the police informed the court that further physical custody of Asghar and Zeeshan was unnecessary, leading the court to place both suspects on judicial remand. Police maintained that Asghar was responsible for Hina’s death with assistance from Zeeshan, who allegedly confessed to strangling her during a confrontation and restraining her when she tried to escape. These allegations remain under investigation and have not been confirmed by the court.
In a significant development, Hina’s family raised concerns about the investigation’s fairness. In a letter dated September 10, her brother Fahad Javed appealed to the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), accusing authorities of partiality. The family claimed that evidence had been tampered with and that blame was being shifted from the husband to the domestic worker. Additionally, they alleged interference by the husband’s brother in the investigation and evidence handling.
The family requested the NCHR to review the entire case file and investigation progress, aiming to ensure a transparent and impartial inquiry free from external influence. These allegations, made public on September 13, remain unproven in court.
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