ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad put off ruling on the appeals against the iddat case sentences of Imran Khan, the founder of the PTI, and his wife Bushra Bibi.
The court will say what the decision is on May 29 (Wednesday).
Judge Shahrukh Arjumand heard the appeals against the former prime minister and first lady’s seven-year term. Usman Riaz Gul, a lawyer for the PTI, and Rizwan Abbasi, a junior lawyer for Khawar Maneka’s lawyer, both showed up in court.
As soon as the meeting started, the assistant lawyer told the judge that Abbasi had to make his case and that the record was not available.
The judge then told the PTI lawyer to finish his arguments and told Maneka’s assistant lawyer to tell Abbasi that he needs to give his arguments by video link by 1 pm.
During the hearing, PTI lawyer Gul said that the case was started only for political reasons. He pointed out that Maneka’s lawsuit wasn’t filed until almost six years later as proof of bad intentions.
He said that the family court, not the criminal court, should decide if the marriage was legal. He also said that Bushra’s statement under Section 342 shows that she got divorced in April 2017 and married again after the iddat time was over.
Adnan Ali, the deputy district prosecutor, pushed for the sentence to stand, saying that there is no law that says these kinds of cases don’t need to be prosecuted.
He also said that the person who made the complaint wasn’t asking for the marriage to be canceled, but rather for punishment for getting married during the iddat-time.
The prosecutor also said that Maneka and Bushra’s relationship ended because the father of the PTI kept getting in the way of their lives.
On April 30, an Islamabad district and session court turned down Maneka’s request to move the iddat case to a different court.
In her plea, Maneka said she didn’t trust the judge in charge, Shahrukh Arjumand, which is why she wanted the case to be moved.
“The court looks favorably upon PTI, so I ask that my case be moved to a different court,” Maneka said as the hearing began.
But Judge Arjumand didn’t agree with Maneka. He said that in all his years as a judge, he has never lost trust.
The lawyers for Imran and Bushra were already unhappy with what they called Khawar Maneka’s lead counsel’s “delaying tactics” and the court’s move to put off the iddat case.
The case
Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, sued the couple in November 2023, saying that the former prime minister and first lady got married without Bushra waiting the minimum amount of time (iddat) for Muslim women to be single before getting married again.
Word
A trial court gave Imran and Bushra each seven years in jail on February 3, 2024, for getting married during iddat. After that, the father of the PTI and his wife went to the Islamabad District and Sessions Court to fight the order.
