IHC extends stay on Nikah during Iddat case till Jan 31

ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) extended its stay order, preventing the trial court from moving forward with the unlawful Nikah case against PTI founder and former premier Imran Khan, as well as his spouse Bushra Bibi, until January 31.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi filed petitions asking for the Nikah in the Iddat case against them to dismissed. And IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard their cases.

The counsel for the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi, Salman Akram Raja, did not appear in the court today. His assistant lawyer requested the court to adjourn the hearing till next week.

However, Bushra’s ex-husband Khawar Maneka’s lawyer Raja Rizwan Abbasi pleaded with the high court to vacate its stay order on the trial court’s proceedings. He said that since the petitioners got such relief from the court, their lawyer won’t come to the court.

The chief justice corrected the lawyer remarking ‘don’t say that. Three lawyers from the petitioners are already in the court’. Saying this, the court adjourned the hearing till January 31.

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On January 16, a Rawalpindi trial court indicted former prime minister Imran Khan. And his spouse Bushra Bibi in the Iddat case.

The charges against the couple were framed by senior civil judge Qudratullah on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband Khawar Farid Maneka under Sections 34 (common intention). 496 (marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage) and 496B (fornication) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan filed a petition in the IHC last week asking for the case against them to dismissed.

The Islamabad High Court prevented the trial court from recording the witness statements in the Nikah in Iddat case during its prior hearing on January 19. “According to the law, if a marriage takes place during Iddat, it would be regularized later. If the marriage is not regular. Then what is the crime in it?” the chief justice said during the hearing. – INP