An Islamabad district and sessions court on Wednesday did not announce its already reserved verdict in the iddat case against former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi while the complainant was assaulted outside the court.
The court had reserved the verdict last week on appeals filed by the PTI founder and his wife against their conviction in the iddat case — which was the third and last in a series of verdicts announced just a few days before the general elections. The verdict is expected to be announced today.
A video broadcast on television showed Maneka, dressed in a white shalwar kameez, walking outside court as men, who appeared to be lawyers, shoved him. He can be seen falling as people pull the attackers off of him.
During the previous hearing, defence counsel Usman Gill and the prosecutor had concluded their arguments before District and Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand.
Raja Rizwan Abbasi, lead counsel for complainant Khawar Fareed Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s former husband, had failed to appear before the court.
The court had ordered his associate to contact Abbasi and tell him he may conclude his arguments in person or via video link. However, when the counsel failed to appear, the court reserved its decision.
Earlier this month, Maneka had requested Arjumand to recuse himself from hearing the appeals, accusing him of being biased and sympathetic towards the PTI.
Imran Khan has said he would file references for misconduct against Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah, who convicted him in the iddat case, as well as District and Sessions Judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain who heard the cipher case.
On February 3 — days before the general elections — an Islamabad court had sentenced Imran and Bushra Bibi to seven years in jail in the case, which pertains to their marriage during the latter’s iddat period.
The verdict had come in the same week Imran and Bushra Bibi had been handed 14-year sentences in the Toshakhana case, and Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had received a 10-year sentence in the cipher case.
The judgment was widely criticised by civil society, women activists and lawyers for being a “blow to women’s right to dignity and privacy”. Activists had protested in Islamabad against the verdict while a Karachi demonstration against the “state’s intrusion into people’s private lives” had also denounced it.
Judge Arjumand had taken up the appeals on February 29.
