LAHORE, Sept 3: A two-member bench of the Supreme Court declared on Monday the trial of a convict illegal who was sentenced to imprisonment on the base of his confessional statement but without following due legal procedure.

The bench, consisting of justices Falak Sher and Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad, heard a petition filed by Waheed Murad, and ruled if the trial court did not frame charges and issue notice to the accused, the sentence given on the basis of a confessional statement would be deemed illegal.

Petitioner’s counsel S.M. Masood said the judge should have framed charges and presented incriminating material prior to convicting his client. He said the judge had sent his client behind bars after he confessed to transporting charas.

He said his client was travelling in a bus when he was caught, and later he confessed to his crime before the trail court judge.

Justice Ijaz observed even if the accused was to make a statement, the trial court judge was bound to issue him a notice in accordance with the laid down law.

State counsel Yasmin Sahgol opposed the plea and submitted the judge could have handed down the sentence after being satisfied by the confessional statement.

Disagreeing with the argument, the bench declared illegal the sentence and remanded the case to the trial court for hearing afresh.

Bail rejected: The Lahore High Court on Monday denied bail to 11 people accused of prostitution at a brothel in Jauhar Town. However, the judge granted bail to Sana and Tariq by giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The judge handed down the order while hearing four post-arrest bail applications of five women and eight men.

According to the prosecution, the Township police, after an anonymous call at 15, raided a house (382-A Johar Town) on June 9 and arrested the accused from two different rooms.

He said the police found five men and three women engaged in adultry. The arrested accused were identified as Jafar, Tariq, Zafar Iqbal, Ashraf, Maratab, Ayesha, Aasia and Komal.

According to the FIR, the police found three men and two women — Tariq, Saleem, Maqsood, Neha and Sana — in a compromising condition.

Police said Farooq of Defence, who ran away from the scene, was running a brothel in the garb of a guesthouse.

Petitioners said the police had implicated them in a fake case after conducting a raid without obtaining a search warrant.