ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed dismay that narcotics prosecutions disproportionately target low-level street peddlers, while the principal architects of the drug trade — involved in manufacturing, trafficking and large-scale distribution — consistently evade trial and remain beyond the reach of justice.

“The menace of narcotic substances is destructive of public health, social order and future generations,” observed Justice Salahuddin Panhwar while acquitting three petitioners in a narcotics-related case.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, set aside the conviction of Mehmood Khan and two others, who had been sentenced in a case involving the recovery of 26 kilograms of charas.

The petitioners had challenged a Feb 14, 2024 judgement of the Sindh High Court that upheld their conviction.

Bench allows appeals of three men filed against judgement of SHC in narcotics possession cases over prosecution lapses

Authored by Justice Panhwar, the judgement highlighted multiple procedural and investigative lapses that fatally weakened the prosecution’s case. It noted that the prosecution had failed to establish an unbroken chain of custody from the point of recovery to laboratory analysis, creating “reasonable doubt” sufficient to entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt.

The judgement noted that the prosecution failed to produce the Moharrar/Malkhana In-charge, relevant custody records, or evidence establishing the safe transmission of the seized narcotics. It also failed to produce the registered owner of the vehicle, present the vehicle as case property, or satisfactorily explain contradictory descriptions of the vehicle.

“These omissions strike at the root of the prosecution case. The petitioners are, therefore, entitled to the benefit of doubt,” Justice Panhwar ruled.

Justice Panhwar emphasised that narcotics laws serve an important public purpose but, given the severe punishments prescribed by law, courts must insist upon strict proof of recovery, custody, sampling, transmission and conscious possession.

“The rigour of narcotics law cannot be permitted to operate at the cost of due process,” the judgement said.

To strengthen the trial of narcotics cases, the Supreme Court also issued a set of directions, ordering the Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control to consider framing or updating a comprehensive regulatory framework for the periodic destruction of confiscated narcotic substances, subject to public health, occupational safety and environmental safeguards.

Likewise, the inspectors general of police of all provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory, as well as all concerned district police officers, were directed to extend lawful assistance to courts in the safe custody, production, sampling, certification and disposal of narcotics case property.

The judgement further directed all trial courts, including special courts established under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 (CNSA), to exercise their statutory powers in the prescribed manner.

Moreover, courts were directed to promptly consider and pass appropriate orders regarding the disposal or destruction of narcotic substances upon the conclusion of an inquiry or trial, in accordance with the law.

While doing so, due regard should be given to environmentally sound methods of destruction to minimise adverse environmental and climatic impacts, the judgement said.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2026