LARKANA, Oct 31: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit bench, here on Friday set aside the conviction of a prisoner serving his jail termin a narcotics’ case at the central prison, Sukkur, and ordered his immediate release.

The bench comprised Justice Ali Aslam Jafri and Justice Syed Zawar Hussain Jafri.

The superintendent of the Central Prison, Sukkur, forwarded the prisoner’s appeal to the registrar of the Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit bench, on Oct 17, 2000 in which he pleaded not guilty.

The excise and taxation police of Shikarpur arrested him on Sept 7, 1996 on charges of carrying 3kg of charas in a wagon. The sessions judge of Shikarpur on Oct 5, 2000 awarded him life imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million.

The prisoner’s advocate Abdul Baqi Jan Kakar pleaded the case quoting references from different law journals.

He said the Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer who arrested the prisoner had not made any entry into the movement register.

The wagon number was also not mentioned in the FIR and the material allegedly recovered from the appellant’s possession was sent late for examination, he added.

Mohammed Ismail Bhutto appeared on behalf of the state and opposed the appeal.

The court observed that judicial notice could be taken of the fact that people usually hesitate to act as witnesses in order to avoid attending courts.

Later, the court set aside the conviction and accepted the prisoner’s appeal.

KILLED: Fateh Ali, the Sajjada Nasheen of a sufi poet Jannan Chann, was killed under mysterious circumstances in a hut adjacent to Jannan Chann’s shrine in village Mundar Lakha (Nasirabad).