PESHAWAR, Jan 26: A local court on Friday granted bail to an alleged juvenile offender arrested on charges of drug trafficking. Judicial Magistrate Hina Mehvish ordered that the applicant, Fazlur Rehman, should be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs80,000 each.

The application was filed by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) on behalf of the boy, aged about 14, as he was helpless and was not having a lawyer.

Ijaz Mohammad Khan advocate of the Sparc appeared for the alleged juvenile offender.

The boy was arrested by officials of the Gulbahar Police Station on Nov 19, from the shrine of Sheikh Junaid Baba here.

Police claimed that the boy was carrying 800 gm of charas and he was charged under section 3 and 4 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hudood) order, 1979.The applicant claimed that he was innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

Mr Khan said that the boy remained in the prison for more than two months without any trial.

He argued that under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance trial of a juvenile offender had to be concluded within four months.

The counsel argued that the sentence provided for the quantity of the contraband mentioned by the police did not fall in the ‘prohibitory’ clause under the Criminal Procedure Code and the boy was entitled to be release on bail.

He contended that under section 10 of the JJSO when a child, under the age of 15 years, was arrested for an offence, which was punishable with imprisonment of less than 10 years, should be treated as if he was accused for commission of a bailable offence.