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- April 16, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, requesting to be transferred from her Banigala home which had been designated a sub-jail to Adiala Jail. Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb dismissed the plea because Bushra Bibi’s attorneys neglected to show up for the hearing. Following her and Imran’s 14-year jail term in the Toshakhana matter, an accountability court in Islamabad placed the former first lady under arrest on January 31.
She is still being held in the Iddat case, even though the IHC on April 1 suspended their sentences in the Toshakhana reference. In other circumstances, Imran is still behind bars. Bushra had come to Adiala Jail, where the team from the National Accountability Bureau was already there, to turn himself into the police, following the Toshakhana ruling. It was the anti-graft watchdog that later arrested her. However, following a late-night notification designating it as a sub-jail, she was relocated to her Banigala residence. Her move to the property has been discussed for weeks because she and her spouse did not apply to have the house designated as a sub-jail.
Bushra Bibi had contested the residence’s classification as a sub-jail and pleaded with the IHC to allow her to serve the remainder of her 14-year sentence in Adiala Jail, about a week after her detention. The management of Adiala Jail had objected to her being sent back to the prison in a later session, saying that the former first lady’s security was at risk due to overcrowding. Justice Aurangzeb had questioned last month if Imran had been consulted before the authorities turned his Banigala home into a sub-jail.
Bushra Bibi filed a new case with the IHC yesterday, claiming that she violated her fundamental rights while being held at Banigala. Following the hearing, Bushra Bibi’s attorneys, Usman Gill, Barrister Salman Safdar, and Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry, filed a petition to reinstate the plea that had been previously disposed of. The attorneys said in the restoration plea that their late arrival at the court was due to “unforeseen and severe traffic congestion around Serena Hotel and surrounding areas.”
“The counsel arrived at the courtroom at 10:20 am, despite the best efforts, including choosing to proceed on foot,” the petition stated. The claim was made that the non-appearance was not careless or purposeful and that the delay was neither intentional nor under the counsel’s control. Bushra’s petition might “potentially result in irreparable loss and prejudice to the petitioner” if it is not restored, the plea continued.