PESHAWAR, May 13: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday set aside the conviction of a juvenile offender and remanded his case back to a trial court in a narcotics' smuggling case.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi, ordered that the trial of the appellant, Mir Waiz, should be conducted under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000.

The bench ruled that the trial conducted by the additional district and sessions judge was not under the said ordinance so it was nullity in the eyes of law. The appellant, Mir Waiz, was convicted by an additional district and sessions judge Liaqat Ali Khan last year and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

The appellant was arrested by officials of Pishtakhara Police Station in 2001 and was allegedly found in possession of five kilograms of charas. Though 14 at the time of occurrence, he was charged under Section 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997.

The chairman of The Voice of Prisoners, Noor Alam Khan, appeared for the appellant and contended that it was known to the trial court that the appellant was a juvenile offender but despite that his trial was not conducted under the said ordinance.

He said that although the trial judge had also been delegated powers of the juvenile court, the procedure he adopted for the trial was not in accordance with the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance.

Mr Khan argued that in his judgment the trial judge had mentioned that as the accused was a juvenile offender, therefore he adopted a lenient view while sentencing him. He said that the judgment proved that the trial judge knew that the appellant was a minor, but he overlooked the provisions of the JJSO.

SENTENCE COMMUTED: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday commuted life imprisonment awarded to a drug pusher to five years' rigorous imprisonment.

The appellant, Hazrat Jan, a resident of Bara Khyber Agency, was convicted by the Peshawar district and sessions judge on Sept 9, 2003, and was convicted for life and fined Rs50,000.

He was arrested by officials of the Customs Department on Feb 28, 1999, here on the Charssada Road while driving a bus NoPRA 6987. The officials had claimed of recovering 710 kilograms of charas from the bus.

The appellant's counsel argued that the officials had claimed of destroying the case property whereas they had not produced the destruction certificate. He said that without the production of the destruction certificate the entire recovery of the contraband had become doubtful.

The counsel contended that the prosecution was only having a single slab of the contraband weighing one kg, therefore at the most the appellant could be sentenced for one kg of charas and not for the quantity claimed by the customs department.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi, partially accepted his appeal and commuted his prison term whereas the fine remained intact.