Islamabad, 16 Jan 

A Pakistani court on Tuesday indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in a case of solemnising their marriage against Islamic laws, according to a media report.

Khan, the 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder who was removed from power in April 2022, and his wife have denied all charges in the case registered by Bushra's former husband, Khawar Maneka, last month, Geo TV reported.

Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah read out the charges in the court set up in the high security Adiala Jail, with Khan in attendance. However, his wife did not appear, which annoyed the judge as previous indictments were postponed because of her absence, the channel said.

The development comes a day after the Islamabad High Court reserved its verdict on Bushra’s plea seeking dismissal of her former husband's case.

In her petition, Bushra contended the admissibility of Maneka's petition saying that a trial court has no jurisdiction to hear it while also urging the court to declare "null and void" the order of the additional sessions judge East on January 11.

Last month, Maneka moved a district and sessions court in Islamabad challenging Khan and Bushra's marriage. His plea was submitted only a day after petitioner Muhamad Hanif withdrew a similar petition challenging the nikah of the PTI chief “due to technical reasons”.

Furthermore, she has also stressed that her ex-husband’s complaint was filed under malice for nefarious purposes, falsely alleging marriage during iddat on the basis of false and fabricated documents.

In their judgments, the high courts declared marriages in iddat to be irregular, not annulled, the plea noted.

Iddat is a waiting period that a Muslim woman must observe on account of the death of her husband or dissolution of the marriage.

During Monday's hearing, Bushra's lawyer underscored that Maneka, in his petition, claimed that his wife was a fornicator. The counsel wondered why the ex-husband was raising this issue six years after their marriage had ended.

The controversy surrounding Khan's marriage escalated when Maneka, in an interview with a private news channel, said that Khan and Bibi had married during iddat.

In 2015, Khan divorced his second wife Reham Khan through email.

Khan has been facing a slew of cases since his ouster from power in April 2022. He is currently incarcerated in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.