Law: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotic Substances Act (XXXI of 2019)-

Section: 9(d), 9

Law: Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898

Section: 342, 382-B, 423(d)

 Summary

The appellant challenged his conviction mainly on the grounds that the prosecution never produced the seized narcotics and vehicle before the trial court despite repeated court directions. The trial court itself also noticed apparent tampering in the date mentioned on the original recovery memo and referred the document to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for handwriting examination, but the forensic report was never obtained before concluding the trial.

The High Court held that non-production of the case property and failure to obtain the FSL report deprived the accused of a fair opportunity to challenge the prosecution evidence. Since these procedural defects directly affected the fairness of the trial, the conviction could not be sustained.

Instead of acquitting the appellant, the High Court exercised its powers under Section 423(d) Cr.P.C., set aside the conviction, and remanded the case to the trial court for fresh proceedings after curing the defects.