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SLAMABAD, Sep 25 (APP):The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by Zafarullah, a convict challenging his life imprisonment sentence in a drug smuggling case.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Hashim Khan Kakar, heard the appeal. During the proceedings, the judges also exchanged some light-hearted remarks.
The prosecution informed the court that 12 kilograms of hashish were recovered from the accused. Justice Kakar asked whether the drugs were being transported in a vehicle. The prosecutor replied that the accused was carrying the narcotics on foot. At this, Justice Kakar remarked, “Then he has not been punished for drug possession but for foolishness.”
Defense counsel Qamar Sabzwari argued that the same police officer who recovered the narcotics also conducted the investigation and later took the drugs for forensic testing. He contended that the case rested solely on one officer, despite judicial precedents that bar the recovery officer from acting as the investigating officer.
Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim noted: “It appears that the police officer got hold of a Kakar and then turned the case into a one-man show,” pointing out that record showed at least two other inspectors were present at the police station.
The defense further submitted that in this case the police inspector acted both as complainant and as investigating officer.
The court subsequently reserved its judgment on Zafarullah’s appeal against his life imprisonment, a sentence handed down after his arrest in 2017.