Law: Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997

Section: 9(c)

(a) Control of Narcotic Substances Act (XXV of 1997)-------S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotics---Appreciation of evidence---Benefit of doubt--Safe custody of samples not proved---Prosecution case was that 57 kilograms charas was recovered from the vehicle driven by the accused---In this case, the prosecution had examined only two witnesses---One was the complainant/Investigation Officer of the case and other was the Mashir who had witnessed recovery allegedly effected in his presence and which he had verified in his evidence---Although, the record verified that the whole team which participated in the raid comprised at least 10 persons including two senior officials with the rank of Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer, but the prosecution decided not to put any of them in the witness box to verify the story---One of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Officers, as per evidence, had kept the samples of Charas for two days after its recovery on 22.10.2016 until they were dispatched to chemical laboratory on 24.10.2016---In what capacity said official was entrusted with those samples and for what purpose had not been explained---It was not the case that said official was Malkahna-In Charge---For two days, the samples were with him but where he kept them had neither been disclosed in evidence, nor brought on record by other means--Said Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer had not been cited as a witnesses, nor his S.161 Cr.P.C statement was recorded during investigation to get some clue as to where he had kept the property in the meantime and why---Prosecution case was completely silent on this important aspect of the case, rendering identity of the samples dispatched to the laboratory uncertain---Appeal against conviction was allowed, in circumstances.Qaisarullah and others v. The State 2009 SCMR 579; The State through Regional Director ANF v. Imam Bakhsh and others 2018 SCMR 2039; Kamran Shah and others v. The State and others 2019 SCMR 1217; Mst. Razia Sultana v. The State and another 2019 SCMR 1300; Faizan Ali v. The State 2019 SCMR 1649; Zahir Shah alias Shat v. The State through Advocate-General, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2019 SCMR 2004; Haji Nawaz v. The State 2020…

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