IHC reserves verdict on Bushra’s plea against Maneka’s ‘un-Islamic’ marriage claim

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday reserved its verdict in response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi’s, plea against her ex-husband Khawar Maneka’s petition accusing her of being in an “un-Islamic” marriage with the former prime minister.

Bushra had moved the high court earlier in the day. IHC’s Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri set up court on the same day to hear the plea, with Bushra’s counsel Salman Akram Raja representing her.

In December 2023, Maneka had challenged Bushra and Khan’s marriage in a district and sessions court in Islamabad, only a day after a similar plea was withdrawn by an individual named Muhamad Hanif — against Khan and Bushra’s nikah — “due to technical reasons”.

During the hearing on Monday, the former first lady’s counsel Salman Akram Raja informed the court that his client’s former husband had made allegations that Bushra had married Imran Khan while in iddat (the time a woman goes into isolation after her husband dies or divorces her) and that she did not exhibit a good character even during their marriage.

The lawyer added that according to the former husband, Bushra was divorced on November 14, 2017, and she married the former prime minister on January 1, 2018, during iddat. Refuting Maneka’s claims, he said that Bushra and Maneka had divorced in April 2017.

Even if Maneka’s statement were to be accepted, then there is a gap of 48 days between divorce and marriage. The petition also submitted that in Allah Dad vs Mukhtar and Another (1992 SMCR 1273), Justice Maulana Taqi Usmani, while writing for the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court, had declared 39 days as sufficient for iddat.

Raja said Maneka, in his petition, had also claimed that his wife was a fornicator. He wondered why was the ex-husband raising this issue six years after their marriage had ended.

“I do not even want to utter the words Khawar Maneka used for his former wife in his complaint. He also alleged that Bushra had a relationship with the PTI founder before their marriage, but didn’t mention whether he personally witnessed their ties or not.”

Raja added that Maneka’s house help also claimed that he saw Bushra and Khan engaging in adultery many times and informed him. However, this testimony cannot stand as the testimony of two men is required in case of fornication in line with the law.

He urged the court to issue a stay order on the proceedings in the trial court as it was proceeding toward an indictment. The court then said it would hear the other side before issuing an order. The hearing was then adjourned to January 17.

Bushra Bibi, via her lawyer Raja, moved the IHC with her plea seeking to dismiss the case and stating that a trial court has no jurisdiction to hear it.In her plea, she mentioned that in their judgments, courts had also declared marriages in iddat to be irregular, not annulled. Citing Muhammad Riaz and another vs the State (2011) and Shoukat Ali and another vs the State (2004), the petition said that courts have recognised that any marriage entered into by a divorced wife before completion of iddat would be irregular and not void.

The petition further contested that Bushra’s ex-husband filed a complaint under malice for nefarious purposes, falsely alleging marriage during iddat on the basis of false and fabricated documents.

The petition said that, per Maneka, he had divorced Bushra on November 14, 2017, and had verbally divorced her thrice on April 15, 2017. While the former first lady moved to her mother’s house in August 2017, and stayed there till her marriage with the PTI founder on January 1, 2018.

In her plea to the IHC, Khan’s wife has sought to declare “null and void” the order of the additional sessions judge East on January 11.

The case, the petition argued, should be dismissed and proceedings of the trial court should be stayed pending the decision on the application.

Bushra’s ex-husband had in his petition, termed the nikkah as fraudulent, saying the marriage was solemnised during her iddat. The petition read that the “nikah and the marriage ceremony was neither legal nor Islamic as it was solemnised without observing the iddah period…”

In his petition, Maneka reiterated allegations and accused the PTI founder of ruining his life, saying Khan had “stigmatised the complainant and his family just to achieve his unethical and immoral objects through intrusion in complainant’s peaceful marital life..”

“In light of the above, it is humbly prayed that respondents No 1 [Imran Khan] and 2 [Bushra Bibi] be summoned and punished strictly in accordance with law in the interest of justice,” the petitioner had prayed to the court.Mufti Saeed, Aun Chaudhry, and Muhammad Latif were also nominated as witnesses in the petition.