ABDUL HAMEED vs The STATE
The petitioner, Abdul Hameed, sought post-arrest bail in a case registered under section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, following the alleged recovery of fourteen kilograms of Charas from a vehicle he was driving. The core legal question was whether the accused was entitled to post-arrest bail given the huge quantity of narcotics recovered and the statutory prohibitions. The Peshawar High Court held that the recovery of a huge quantity of contraband supported by police statements and a positive FSL report brought the case within the restrictive clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, as well as the embargo contained in subsection (1) of section 51 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997. Consequently, the court dismissed the bail petition. The key principle laid down is that where a huge quantity of narcotics is recovered from a vehicle driven by the accused and is supported by prima facie evidence, the restrictive clauses of bail statutes apply, disentitling the accused to relief.
- Is an accused entitled to post-arrest bail when a huge quantity of contraband is recovered from a vehicle driven by him?
- Does the recovery of fourteen kilograms of Charas attract the prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898?
- Does the embargo under section 51(1) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 bar the grant of bail in cases involving large-scale narcotics recovery?
- Section 9(c), Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
- Section 51(1), Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997
' SHAH JEHAN KHAN AKHUNDZADA, J.---Abdul Hameed accused-petitioner facing prosecution in case F.I.R. No. 83 dated 13-2-2013 under section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 at Police Station, registered at Police Station, Akora Khattak, Nowshera was refused bail by the learned Sessions Judge/JFC, Nowshera vide his order dated 2-3-2013. He has now moved this Court for his release on bail.
2. Brief facts of the case are that on 13-2-2013 at 1700 hours Inayatur Rehman ASI along with his police contingents was on mobile gasht of the Illaqa when he received information that contraband Charas would be smuggled from tribal territory towards Punjab through Motor Car bearing Registration No.UR-012, so he had laid picket at the spot, meanwhile the said vehicle came there which was signalled to stop but instead of stopping the car, the driver accelerated its speed.
However, the same was chased and was forced to stop near Akora Pathak. On apprehension of the driver, he disclosed his name as Abdul Hameed son of Abdur Razzaq resident of Turangzai Charsadda and the other person sitting in the front seat disclosed his name as Muhammad Qaiser son of Ghulam Nabi resident of Abbottabad Ayub Medical Complex Colony. On search of the car, the police recovered five packets of Charas from beneath the seat of the driver, five packets from beneath the front seat and four packets of Charas from beneath the rear seat (total 14 Kilograms).
Out of the total quantity, 5/5 grams from each packet were separated and sent to FSL for chemical analysis while the remaining Charas was sealed into separate parcels. Both the accused were arrested on the spot and Murasila for registration of a case was sent to Police Station, where the report, as mentioned above, was registered against him under section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997.
3. I have heard the learned counsel for the accused-petitioner as well as the learned State counsel and have also gone through the record of the case.
4. Keeping in view the recovery of huge quantity of contraband Charas weighing fourteen (14) Kgs from the vehicle particularly when the accused-petitioner was driving the said vehicle at the relevant time and the fact that the case of the prosecution is duly supported by the statements of police officials who are eye-witnesses of this occurrence, having no mala fide or to implicate the accused-petitioner falsely coupled with positive report of FSL available on file, case of the accused-petitioner entailing capital punishment not only falls within the restrictive clause of section 497, Cr.P.C. But the same attracts the embargo contained in subsection (1) of section 51 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, therefore, I do not feel inclined to release him on bail.
5. Resultantly, this bail petition being devoid of any merits is dismissed.