IT was a needless, despicable spectacle which only ended up uniting both conservatives and progressives in condemning the state. Now, some five months later, the convictions handed to former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the infamous ‘iddat case’ stand overturned. The ruling, issued by an Islamabad district and sessions court, marks a significant milestone in the incarcerated PTI leader’s legal battles. After earlier acquittals and suspension of sentences in other cases, this was the last legal hurdle keeping him behind bars. It remains to be seen what fresh challenges await him, with the government insisting it will do everything within its powers to keep him in jail. Returning to the case, the unprecedented scrutiny of Mr Khan and his spouse’s marital affairs was condemnable not only because it was undignified and detrimental to women’s rights but also because it was in complete violation of cultural norms. The case was fast-tracked before the Feb 8 election just to ‘show’ the public that Mr Khan suffered from severe flaws of character. Instead, it only served to disgust the public and earn him more sympathy — a realisation that came to his detractors too late.

This case will be remembered as a low point in the country’s political history, when the lines between accountability and personal privacy were blurred in unprecedented and unforgivable ways. Lawyers, rights activists and even religious scholars had denounced it as a blatant violation of two individuals’ dignity, noting that the state had no right to decide the validity of a marriage based on conjecture about a woman’s menstrual cycle. It was also pointed out that the hastily conceived conviction in the original case had opened the door to frivolous litigation against other divorced women from vengeful ex-husbands. It is hoped that this dangerous precedent will be undone through the presiding judge’s detailed reasoning for his judgement. Lastly, a reflection on the judiciary’s renewed efforts to reclaim its independence: this verdict was not expected, considering the circumstances in which the original case was conducted and how the last judge to hear the review petition was forced to recuse himself right when he was about to announce his judgement. It is hoped that it is a sign that the country’s justice system is finding its feet after the sustained attacks it has faced.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2024