Two exonerated in drugs case
Two men found falsely implicated in a case of possessing 40 kilogrammes of narcotics were finally proven innocent and exonerate by the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court. A two-judge bench comprising Justice Raja Shahid Abbasi and Justice Sadiq Mahmood Khurram quashed the life sentence of Mamun Al-Rasheed and Abu Al-Hassan in what they observed was a fake case of 40kg drug case and also waived the Rs110,000 penalty imposed on them by lower court. Court issued order to release both of them from Adiala Jail immediately. Council for defence Advocate Syed Yasir Shah Tirmizi said police had kidnapped his clients from their homes and kept them in illegal custody for several days. He said that prosecution framed the case on the testimony of a policeman although he was not an eyewitness. The statements of the witnesses are also contradictory. The forensic laboratory report is also contradictory. The bench discharged the case and released the prisoners.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2020.