Written by: Ushah Kazi

In July 2024, an Islamabad court acquitted Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Khan (a.k.a Bushra Bibi) in the unlawful marriage case. This came months after they had been sentenced to seven years in prison because their marriage allegedly violated principles of Islamic law. They previously filed an appeal, which was denied. 

The case was unprecedented. More than a year after it was initially filed, it is important to go over the details of this story and take stock of how Pakistani law fits into it. 

Background 

Imran Khan’s marriage to Bushra Bibi made headlines in 2018. Mufti Muhammad Saeed performed their nikah (i.e. traditional Muslim wedding ceremony). 

In November 2023, Bushra Bibi’s former husband, Khawar Maneka, filed a case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi alleging a “fraudulent marriage and fornication”. He accused Imran Khan of “ruining his married life”.  

Mufti Saeed testified that he first solemnized the marriage in January 2018. However, he also claimed that in February 2018, he found out that Bushra Bibi’s Iddat (i.e. a mandatory three-month interval between marriages that only applies to women as per Islamic law) was not complete when he initially solemnized the nikkah, which means it had to be solemnized again in February 2018. However, Mufti Saeed alleged, “I didn’t sign the papers”.

Elaborating on the concept of Iddat, Barrister Khadija Siddiqi, a  criminal practitioner, human rights lawyer, and lawyer for Bushra Bibi, notes that it “refers to the period that must elapse before a widow or divorcee may remarry.” She says a widow’s waiting time is four months and ten days. If a woman is divorced, she must wait three menstrual cycles or three lunar months before getting married again. She explains, “This is to remove any ambiguity about paternity should pregnancy have occurred before the previous couple’s separation.”

The Verdict and Legal Precedent 

In February 2024, days before Pakistan’s national elections, a civil court set up inside Adiala Jail, where Imran Khan was already imprisoned at the time, sentenced the couple to seven years in jail along with a fine of PKR 1 million. 

Their marriage was ruled unlawful. 

Calling this a “novel case”  Barrister Siddiqi stated that the former Prime Minister and his spouse were charged under Section 496 of the PPC, which “provides punishment for fraudulent mock marriages.” She explained that they were given the “maximum sentence for the section.” 

Appeals and Acquittal 

District and Sessions Judge Shah­rukh Arjumand heard Imran Khan’s and Bushra Bibi’s appeal against their conviction. In May, on the day that the verdict was expected to be announced, Judge Arjumand sought a transfer of the case and reserved his judgment. Earlier that month, Khawar Maneka requested that Judge Arjumand recuse himself, alleging he was “sympathetic” towards Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) political party. 

In June 2024, Additional District and Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka dismissed their petitions, noting that they were not entitled to bail “unless strong grounds are made to appear that conviction is not liable to be sustained”.

Then in July, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were acquitted when Judge Majoka overturned their previous conviction. This took place less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court ruled that PTI was eligible for seats reserved for women and minorities. 

Judge Majoka rejected Bushra Bibi’s previous husband’s allegations regarding her marriage with Imran Khan, including alleged “fornication”. 

The judgment stated that because there wasn’t a “second witness”, the charge of fornication under Section 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code wasn’t valid. According to the court, “on Jan 1, 2018, the nikkah of the appellants was performed, and then the second nikkah was performed in February 2018. In this way, by no stretch of imagination, it was a marriage with dishonest or fraudulent intention.”

The judge also questioned Maneka for filing a case after six years. 

While commenting on the overall case, Barrister Khadija Siddiqi elaborated that “under Islamic law, if the spouses claim themselves to be husband and wife, the other formalities can be ignored and their simple statement is sufficient to prove the same.” Regarding the period of Iddat, she also noted that “under Sharia law, even if a marriage is conducted during the period of Iddat it is considered an irregular (Fasid) marriage. It is not void ab initio (i.e. from the beginning), but only considered unlawful for the temporary period of irregularity. As soon as the period of Iddat is over, marriage becomes regular.” 

Moving Forward

Since August 2023, Imran Khan’s legal troubles have been mounting. The case filed against him and his wife regarding the legality of their marriage has been under heavy public scrutiny. 

On 11 September 2024, Amnesty International released a statement calling for Imran Khan’s immediate release. In October 2024, nine months after the couple was sentenced, Bushra Bibi was released from jail. 

Ushah Kazi has written for several Pakistani and Canadian publications. She also published a book about Pakistani cinema titled, The Pop-Culture Junkie’s Guide to Pakistani Cinema, which is available on Amazon.