RAWALPINDI, Feb 20: Bad luck continues to shadow 10-year-old Mohammad Javed who has been languishing in Adiala Jail for a year on drug trafficking charges.

On Tuesday he was again brought handcuffed to the additional district and session court for trial. But his case could not be taken up because his kind defence counsel was not there and the boy was returned a pathetic picture to the jail.

Javed was arrested at Pirwadhai on February 18, 2006, allegedly for possessing about 2.5 kilograms of charas. But the police did not challan for seven months.

When the trial began finally, the state-appointed defence counsel never appeared to plead his case.

It was last month that Advocate Shah Khawar took pity on the boy on seeing him in chains and helpless in the court. He moved the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Rana Masood Akhtar, seeking the acquittal of the boy on the grounds that a child under 11 could neither be detained for more than six months without trial, nor handcuffed.

But the court turned down the plea, saying the boy was charged under a special narcotics control law and could not be acquitted or bailed out.

When questioned about his absence from Tuesday’s proceedings in the case, Advocate Shah Khawar told Dawn that he was moving the higher court against the lower court’s decision on Wednesday.