IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Maqbool Baqar 
Mr. Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
Jail Petition No. 508 of 2016 
(Against the judgment dated 30.08.2016 
passed by the High Court of Sindh in Crl. 
Jail Appeal No.S-160 of 2011) 
 
 
Zubair Khan 
 
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
 
The State 
 
…Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Qari Abdul Rasheed, ASC 
 
For the State: 
Mr. Zafar A. Khan,  
 
Addl. Prosecutor General  
 
Date of hearing: 
21.01.2021. 
 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- A contingent of 
Naushahro Feroze police, after a hot pursuit, intercepted a suspicious 
truck bearing registration No.E-5318, ostensibly transporting a cargo 
comprising 100 bags of potatoes with 80 packets of cannabis, 
surreptitiously concealed in the secret cavities thereof, at 4:00 p.m. on 
21.4.2010; the petitioner was on the wheel; the vehicle and the 
contraband, weighed as 80 K.G, were secured vide inventories; forensic 
analysis of the samples, separated from the each packet, confirmed 
narcotic character thereof. As the investigation progressed, one Abdul 
Latif Gul, since P.O., was identified as the man behind the scene. The 
petitioner claimed trial, pursuant whereto, prosecution produced two 
witnesses as well as case property consisting the impounded vehicle 
and the contraband, confronted by the petitioner with denial; he was 
returned a guilty verdict with imprisonment for life vide judgment 
dated 02.04.2011, upheld by the High Court of Sindh vide impugned 
judgment dated 30.08.2016, vires whereof, are being assailed on the 
ground that in the face of prosecution’s failure to establish safe 
custody as well as transmission of the samples to the office of 
Jail  Petition No. 508 of 2016 
 
2
Chemical Examiner with a duplicate forensic report, in circumstances, 
there was no occasion for petitioner’s conviction. The learned Law 
Officer has defended the impugned judgment though without much 
enthusiasm. 
2. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
3. 
 
Prosecution produced two witnesses, namely, Basharat 
Hussain, Inspector as (PW-1) and Abdul Ghani as (PW-2); the former 
furnished comprehensive details regarding interception of vehicle along 
with the contraband and investigative steps taken thereafter whereas 
the former corroborated his deposition, however, the prosecution 
unredeemedly failed to establish the essential link of safe transmission 
of samples to the office of Chemical Examiner as despite opportunity 
Abdul Hakeem, EC/B-131 who had delivered the samples failed to 
enter the witness box, leaving the entire case in the lurch. The last 
straw is prosecution’s reliance on a duplicate forensic report Ex.15 to 
confirm narcotic character of the contraband. Appalling inaptitude of 
the functionaries tasked to prosecute the crime, awfully heinous in 
nature, has occasioned the failure to establish a most vital link to drive 
home the charge, irreversibly vitiated by a duplicate forensic report, 
inadmissible in evidence, leaving no juridical possibility to maintain 
petitioner’s conviction. Petition is converted into appeal; same is 
allowed; the impugned judgment is set aside; the appellant is acquitted 
of the charge and has been ordered to be released if not required to be 
detained in any other case vide short order of even date. Findings 
recorded hereinabove shall cast no bearings on the trial of absconding 
co-accused, to be dealt with independently, after his arrest on the 
strength of available evidence. The impounded vehicle statedly owned 
by the absconding co-accused, with no rival claimant till date, shall be 
disposed of in the manner provided under section 88 of the Code of 
Criminal Procedure 1898.  
 
 
Judge 
 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
21st January, 2021 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/-