ISLAMABAD: A local court, on Wednesday, deferred the indictment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in an illegal Nikkah case due to the absence of Khan’s wife till January 15.
The civil judge, Qudratullah, while hearing the case at Adiala Jail postponed the framing of the charge against Khan and his wife in the Nikkah case. Jail authorities produced Khan before the court. Khan’s counsel Salman Akram Raja, Bushra Bibi’s lawyer Usman Gull as well as counsel for the complainant Rizwan Abbas appeared before the court.
However, Khan’s wife did not appear before the court. At the start of the hearing, Bushra Bibi’s counsel told the court his client was ill due to which she could not appear before it.
He filed an application before the court seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court for his client.
The PTI chief and his wife’s counsel requested the court to adjourn the hearing of the case till Monday next.
Abbasi, while objecting to the accused counsel’s plea to adjourn the hearing till Monday, said that the court had fixed today’s date for framing the charge against the accused. He requested indicting the accused on Thursday (today).
To this, the PTI founder’s lawyer told the court that he has to appear before Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday (today) in some other cases, therefore, it would be difficult for him to appear before this court.
The judge said that if you [the defence counsel] are busy in IHC on Thursday before noon then we fix this case for same afternoon. To this, Raja, Khan’s counsel said that he did not know at which time hearings will end in IHC as well as he has some personal engagement on Thursday.
The court, after hearing the arguments, adjourned the hearing of the case till January 15.
The court had earlier recorded the statement of Bushra Bibi’s former husband and the complainant Khawar Maneka, his servant Muhammad Latif, Mufti Muhammad Saeed who had solemnised the Nikkah, and former advisor to the prime minister on sports and tourism Awn Chaudhry.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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