The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on the petition filed by Bushra Bibi, wife of former prime minister and ex-PTI chairman Imran Khan, seeking her shifting from her Bani Gala residence in Islamabad, now declared a sub-jail, to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. During the hearing, the state counsel said that Bushra had been shifted to Bani Gala because there were threats to her life at the Adiala Jail. Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb remarked that in his opinion the government had made up its mind to detain the former first lady at Bani Gala before her conviction. “Do you think that the notification issued for the purpose was drafted in a minute?” he asked.  “For God’s sake, sometimes you say you cannot produce her in the court because of threats and sometimes you say the jail is not safe for her.” “The question is whether you are safe?” the judge questioned. Bushra’s lawyer Advocate Usman Riaz Gill argued that his client had been convicted in Toshakhana and Iddat cases without giving her a fair trial. “Bushra was not present in the courtroom at the time of pronouncement of verdicts,” he said, and added, “In the light of the court’s decision, my client had to be detained at Adiala, and not in Bani Gala.” 

“It was on the chief commissioner’s order that she was shifted to Bani Gala, and that there were no such instructions either by the Punjab government or the IG Jail,” he told the court. He further said that the notification issued by the chief commissioner for shifting the former first lady to Bani Gala was illegal since he had wielded the powers of the provincial government. Justice Aurangzeb questioned what was the procedure when a prisoner had to be shifted from one province to another? Advocate Gill told him that it was the trial court, and not the chief commissioner, who was authorized to determine where the prisoner had to be kept.  Quoting the Adiala Jail superintendent, the judge said that section of the jail reserved for female prisoners was overcrowded; so therefore, it was deemed fit to shift Bushra to Bani Gala. Justice Aurangzeb then asked why 141 female prisoners, who were brought to Adiala Jail after Bushra was taken to Bani Gala, were not shifted to their homes. He also asked how on earth could the prisoner’s property be declared a sub-jail sans his or her consent. After listening to arguments from both sides, the court then reserved the verdict.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan