PESHAWAR, Nov 11: A seven-month pregnant Nigerian woman, Fatima Muhammad, is still in jail in two cases of drug trafficking although the additional district and sessions judge of Haripur has acquitted her of the charges in one of the cases in which she was implicated by the anti-narcotics force.
She was arrested at the Peshawar International Airport while she was going abroad. The ANF implicated her in two cases in which another woman, Safaralo, alias Fatima, was wanted.
In Haripur, a case was lodged against Safaralo by the ANF on Sept 19, 2000. A person arrested in the case claimed that Ms Safaralo was the ring leader of a drug trafficking gang, who had escaped and could not be apprehended by the ANF.
When arrested, Ms Fatima was also named in the case, which was taken up for hearing by the additional district and sessions judge in his capacity as the special judge of anti-narcotics in September this year.
On Sept 7, the court acquitted the woman after preliminary hearing and took to task the ANF for implicating her in the case.
The court stated that the passport number of Safaralo was 222230, while that of Ms Fatima was 022228.
The judge expressed concern over her detention, observing that a foreign woman had wrongfully been confined despite the fact that she was pregnant and was not in good health.
The court fined the ANF Rs25,000 under section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code for levelling vexatious allegations against Fatima. The fine money is to be paid to the woman, according to the court order.
Fatima is facing charges in an another case and her application for acquittal is pending before the special judge of anti-narcotics, Peshawar.
Her application seeking quashment of the FIR against her is pending before the special judge of anti-narcotics, Muhammad Ashraf Khan.
Her counsel has contended that prison was not a proper place for giving birth to a child, especially when the woman had been implicated in the case.
