Imran Khan's plea for acquittal in female judge threatening case dismissed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's plea seeking acquittal in a case registered against him for threatening a female judge has been dismissed by a local court.

"The PTI chairman does not deserve acquittal in the case of threatening a female judge," district and sessions court judge Mureed Abbas said Wednesday.

The verdict on the plea was earlier reserved upon completion of the arguments from all parties in the case.

The court also decided to conduct Imran's trial all over again from the beginning and adjourned the hearing till December 20.

A case was registered against the deposed prime minister in August 2022 at Margalla police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for his intimidating remarks targetting an additional sessions judge, Zeba Chaudhry, and senior Islamabad police officers during a public rally last year.

Imran had warned that he would “not spare” Islamabad's inspector-general, deputy inspector general, and the female magistrate, vowing to file cases against them for "torturing" PTI leader Shahbaz Gill — then behind the bars — under custody.

The former prime minister, who was removed from power through a parliamentary vote in April last year, had called out the sessions judge, who had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the capital police, and said she, too, should "prepare" as a case will also be registered against her.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Magistrate Ali Javed in Islamabad's Margalla Police Station under Section 7 of ATA.

Later, the PTI chief appeared before the court of Zeba Chaudhry to apologise but told the court's reader to stay witness for his appearance for an apology as she was on leave.

He also submitted an affidavit to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), hearing a contempt of court case against him for controversial remarks, assuring that he would "never do anything in future" that would hurt the dignity of any court and the judiciary.

Later on, the high court quashed the terror charges and also pardoned the PTI chief after he had tendered an apology in the contempt case, subsequently transferring the case from an anti-terrorism court to a sessions court in December 2022.