Imran challenges order in nikah case

Request IHC to set aside a judicial magistrate’s July 18 order

ISLAMABAD:

Former prime minister Imran Khan has challenged a trial court’s decision to accept a petition seeking criminal proceedings against him and his wife, Bushra Bibi, for cohabiting after their first nikah that allegedly took place without completion of the latter’s mandatory iddat period.

A judicial magistrate in Islamabad, Qudratullah, issued a nine-page detailed judgment on July 18 stating that the petition filed against the former premier with regard to his “illegal” marriage was admissible. The judge also ordered Imran and his wife to appear in his court on July 20 [today].

Earlier, on July 14, Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Azam Khan remanded the case to the judicial magistrate. He had also dismissed another civil court’s verdict declaring the plea challenging the legality of the marriage inadmissible.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief on Wednesday moved a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking quashing of both the petition and the trial court’s order.

Read more: Court accepts plea against Imran’s marriage

The petition contended that the allegations contained in the private complaint do not constitute an offense within the ambit of Section 496 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). “Thus continuation of the trial would amount to the abuse of the process of law,” it added.

It said the most significant question of the offence falling within the mischief of Section 496 PPC was neither examined by the trial court nor by the revisional court.

“Moreover, the revisional court went a step ahead by holding that the issuance of notice to the respondent in criminal revision is not required. This part of the order vitiates the entire proceedings as no criminal revision can be decided without hearing the second party,” it added.

It said both the courts have already condemned the petitioners without hearing them. It described the case as defamatory and frivolous, adding that continuation of the proceedings would amount to miscarriage of justice and abuse of the process of law.

The petitioner, a Muhammad Haneef, claimed that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Imran Khan on January 1, 2018 despite the fact that her iddat period had not completed “which is against the Sharia and the Muslim norms.”

He submitted in the court the statements of Mufti Muhammad Saeed who conducted the marriage between Imran and Bushra and Awn Chaundhry—Imran’s close friend—who was one of the witnesses.