The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared as null and void a petition filed against PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter Tyrian White, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
A three-judge IHC bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the case on Tuesday and rejected the petition.
A few days back the IHC had formed the bench that will take up the disqualification case against Imran Khan for not disclosing his alleged daughter — Tyrian White — in the nomination papers filed for contesting 2018 general elections.
The case had been pending since May 2023 after a three-member bench hearing the case was dissolved by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq. The decision was taken after the opinions of two judges regarding the plea’s maintainability were uploaded on the court website.
The bench comprised CJ Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and had reserved the verdict in the case on March 30 last year. However, Justice Kayani and Justice Tahir had opined against the petition’s maintainability and uploaded their opinion on the IHC official website which was later removed.
The high court explained that without the signatures of the bench head Justice Farooq, the opinion of two judges could not be declared the bench verdict and uploaded to the court website.
A petitioner, Mohammad Sajid, had alleged that Imran Khan had not disclosed his alleged daughter in his nomination papers which were filed for contesting the 2018 general elections.
Sajid alleged that Imran Khan had provided incorrect information while submitting his nomination papers for the general elections held in 2018.
The petitioner also said that even though the former prime minister has three children, he had mentioned only two in the papers and concealed the existence of his third child.
The petitioner’s lawyers argued that the PTI founder did not declare Tyrian as his daughter in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The petitioner had alleged that the former premier did not marry his alleged girlfriend Sita White, mother of Tyrian, because her father told Imran Khan that he would not get a “penny” from his wealth if he married Sita.
Reporter Ehtisham Kiyani