PESHAWAR, July 16: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court on Monday referred to a larger bench a writ petition challenging the deduction of remission from a prisoner’s term. The prisoner had been transferred to a Peshawar prison from Punjab.

The bench comprising Justice Muhammad Raza Khan and Justice Raj Muhammad Khan observed that some petitions having the same question of law were pending before a larger bench. The petition in question should be placed before the same bench.

The bench had reserved its decision a few days ago after completion of arguments from the two sides and pronounced its order on Monday.

Petitioner Muhammad Ilyas and Mohammad Saleem were arrested by the Customs authorities in Lahore on Aug 29, 1996, on charges of drug trafficking. Both of them were convicted by a court on May 21, 2001, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court extended them the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code under which the period of their detention before their conviction had to be counted in their prison term.

On May 3, 2002, the petitioner was transferred to a Peshawar prison as he belonged to Peshawar. The petitioner claimed that in the light of a judgment of the Peshawar High Court, the prison authorities here deducted eight years and four months from his prison term already undergone on account of the remissions extended to him.

In the said judgment the high court had ruled that a convict could not be granted remission for the period of imprisonment before his conviction when he or she was under-trial.