SAJJAD KHAN vs State Benefit of doubt — 2023 YLRN 71 PESHAWAR-HIGH-COURT

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SAJJAD KHAN VS State Benefit of doubt---Principle---If any reasonable doubt is created in the case of prosecution then its benefit will be extended to the accused. S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotics---Appreciation of evidence---Benefit of doubt---Admission of accused before the police---Scope---Prosecution case was that fifty packets of charas total weighing sixty kilograms in two sacks were recovered from the possession of the accused persons---Admittedly, the recovery was not effected from the direct possession of the accused rather it was made from the passenger bus---Record showed that the sacks containing the alleged charas were lying on the seat of the passenger bus for which the two brothers, i.e., the present accused and the acquitted co-accused, were booked---As to who had placed these sacks on the seat was a mystery which remained unveiled not only during the course of investigation but also during the course of trial---Though, as per contents of murasilla, one of the accused had admitted ownership of the sacks but it was neither acceptable to the human experience that a person keeping some incriminating substance in a sack would ever own it and that too when it was detected by the police---Such statement of the accused being a statement before the police was not admissible in view of Art. 38 of Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984. S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotics---Appreciation of evidence--- Benefit of doubt--- Safe transmission of the representative samples to the laboratory---Scope---Prosecution case was that fifty packets of charas total weighing sixty kilograms in two sacks were recovered from the possession of the accused persons---Though, Forensic Science Laboratory Report was in positive but the same too was of no avail to the prosecution because there was a question mark as to safe transmission of the representative samples to the laboratory as neither 'rahdari' receipt was available on record nor its receipt number was mentioned in the application drafted for sending the samples to the Laboratory---Also lack of necessary protocols on the Forensic Science Laboratory Report regarding the tests applied for as required under S. 6 of the Control of Narcotic Substances (Government Analysts) Rules, 2001, which was mandatory was another loophole which rendered the Forensic Science Laboratory Report unreliable---Accused were acquittal, in circumstances. S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotics---Appreciation of evidence---Benefit of doubt---Contradictions in the statements of witnesses---Scope---Prosecution case was that fifty packets of charas total weighing sixty kilograms in two sacks were recovered from the possession of the accused persons---Complainant stated that the name of the accused was not mentioned on the sacks while recovery witness stated that name of the accused was mentioned on the sacks---Again, neither daily diary as to departure of the Seizing Officer from the police station to the spot was available on record nor statements of the Police Official of the concerned police station present on the spot were recorded---Record showed that there were unconformable contradictions in the statements of witnesses which made the story of the prosecution doubtful---Accused were acquittal, in circumstances.

SAJJAD KHAN vs State Benefit of doubt — 2023 YLRN 71 PESHAWAR-HIGH-COURT

Case information

Judgment text as reported