Abdul Wasi vs The State
The petitioner, a juvenile, sought post-arrest bail in a narcotics case involving the recovery of 4.800 KGs of heroin and 4.600 KGs of charas. The contraband was recovered from a 'baitak' near the petitioner's house, not from his personal possession. The core legal question was whether the petitioner, being a juvenile at the time of the alleged offense, was entitled to bail given the circumstances of the recovery and his age. The Court held that the petitioner was entitled to bail, noting that he was 13 years old at the time of the occurrence, had no prior criminal record, and the recovery was not from his direct possession. The Court emphasized that incarceration is detrimental to a juvenile's development and poses a risk of exposing the child to hardened criminals. Consequently, the bail petition was allowed, with the Court directing the petitioner's elder brothers to supervise him to prevent his involvement in future criminal activities, while clarifying that these observations were tentative and should not influence the trial court's final decision.
- Is a juvenile entitled to bail when the alleged narcotics recovery was not from his personal possession?
- Does the incarceration of a juvenile in a narcotics case warrant the grant of bail to prevent exposure to criminal elements?
- Can the age of an accused as determined by official documents like Form-B be a determining factor for bail in narcotics cases?
- Section 9-C, Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997
- Section 15, Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997
MUSARRAT HILALI, J.---Through the instant petition, accused-petitioner, Abdul Wasi, seeks his release on bail in case FIR No. 38/2021 dated 29.05.2021 under sections 9-C/15, CNSA, registered at Police Station, RD ANF, District Peshawar.
2. Brief facts as per ibid FIR are that on 29.05.2021, the local police received spy information about presence of employee of famous drug peddler (Haji Ihsan) namely Abdul Wasi who kept huge quantity of narcotics in his house at District Khyber for its smuggling to Peshawar City. Acting on this, the police reached the spot and apprehended a young boy standing in front of his main gate, who disclosed his name as Abdul Wasi. Upon cursory interrogation, he led the police inside "baitak" of his house, wherefrom the police recovered two sacks, one out of which, containing 04 packets containing heroin weighing 1200/1200 grams each packet making total of 4.800 KGs while from the second sack, 04 packets of contraband chars were recovered, out of which, 3 packets weighing 1200/1200 grams while 01 packet weighing 1000/1000 grams chars making total of 4.600 grams chars. Accordingly, the aforesaid case FIR was registered.
Arguments heard and record gone through.
3. Admittedly, nothing has been recovered from the possession of accused-petitioner rather the contraband have been recovered on his pointation from a 'baitak' closed to his house which was not owned by him as he himself is a juvenile as per his school certificate and Form-B issued by NADRA, wherein his date of birth is recorded as 10.03.2008 which reveals that at the time of occurrence the accused-petitioner was 13 years, 02 months and 19 days old and is student of 8th class. The record shows that the accused-petitioner has no criminal antecedents. In my view, jail is, hardly a place where a juvenile should be kept as incarceration would have the effect of dwarfing the development of the child, besides there is every, possibility that he may come into contact with some known criminals in jail.
4. In view of the above, the petitioner is allowed bail. The two elder brothers of accused who are present in the Court are directed to keep an eye on accused-petitioner so that he does not fall into the trap of principal accused again.
5. Needless to remark that the observations made hereinbefore are tentative in nature and the trial Court while deciding the lis shall not be swayed from the observations made in this order.
6. Above are the reasons for the short order of even date.