Islamabad: A district and sessions on Thursday reserved the verdict on PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi’s appeals challenging the sentences in the iddat case.
Judge Shahrukh Arjumand reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments of lawyers from both sides.
The court will announce the judgement on May 29 (Wednesday).
Salman Akram Raja is Khan’s lawyer in the case, while Usman Gul is Bushra Bibi’s counsel in the case.
As the hearing commenced, the assistant counsel informed the court that Abbasi had to present arguments and added that the record was not available.
The judge then asked the PTI lawyer to finalise arguments and also directed Maneka's assistant counsel to inform Abbasi that he has to present his arguments via video link by 1 pm.
During the hearing, PTI lawyer Gul contended that the case was initiated solely for political motives, emphasizing the delayed filing of Maneka’s complaint after nearly six years as evidence of malicious intent.
Last month, a local court in Islamabad had rejected Maneka's no-confidence motion in the appeals against the conviction in the iddat case. As per the motion, Maneka expressed no confidence in the judge and requested that the case be transferred to another court.
In February, Senior civil judge Qudratullah sentenced Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in jail each in the case.
The court also imposed Rs500,000 fines each on the couple.
According to the written order, the two were found guilty under Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) Section 496 (marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage).
Section 496 is considered an offence completely distinct from zina, an offence that ensues from not having a contracted marriage.
The order further said that the two would be imprisoned for a further four months if they failed to pay the fines.