PESHAWAR, Dec 17: The Peshawar High Court here on Tuesday expressed annoyance over conviction of a person without fulfilling procedural requirements by a Qazi court in Dir and remanded the case back to the trial court.
The appellant, Bukht Chaman, was convicted by the zila Qazi, Dir, Amir Gulab Khan, on the very first day when he was produced before the court. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment and directed that he should be kept in prison till death, which was against the provisions of the law.
The appellant, Bukht Chaman was accused of killing Mian Muhammad, on July 14, 2000. He was produced before the Qazi court by the police on July 17, for obtaining his physical custody.
The court instead of remanding him in the custody of police asked the accused whether he had committed the crime. When he replied in affirmative, the court instead of sending him to the magistrate for recording his confessional statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, convicted him and awarded the sentence.
Senior advocate Safirullah Khan appeared on behalf of the appellant and argued that the trial court had completely overlooked the provisions of the CrPC while convicting the appellant.
He argued that under section 265-C of the CrPC all the relevant statements and documents had to be provided to the accused before framing of the charge.
Moreover, he argued that there was a procedure for recording confessional statement of an accused which was ignored by the Qazi court.
Its worth mentioning that the zila Qazi has been known for his unusual judgments during his appointments at various stations in Malakand division.
On various occasions the high court had reprimanded him not to deliver judgments contrary to provisions of the law.
