PESHAWAR, March 12: Accepting a criminal appeal, a division bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday acquitted a juvenile offender earlier convicted by the trial court for drug pushing.

The appellant, Rehmat Ali of Bazokharakai, Mardan district, was slapped life imprisonment by the additional district and sessions judge in his capacity as special judge anti-narcotics.

The appellant was 15 when he was arrested by the local police on Oct 29, 1999, at Cantt Railway Station. Police claimed that he had 37 crates of eggs, and in four crates 55 kilograms of charas were concealed.

The appellant claimed that he was not aware of the presence of contraband in the crates as those crates belonged to his uncle Abdul Jabbar. He claimed that his uncle and other relatives escaped from the scene when they spotted the police. However, the trial court convicted the boy and the other co-accused were acquitted.

Advocate Bashir Khan Tanghi appeared for the appellant and argued that the contraband was not recovered from the direct possession of the appellant.

He added that although he was standing near the crates but in fact those crates belonged to his relatives. He contended that the police recovered only Rs100 from the pocket of the appellant, whereas booking charges of the crates to Karachi are much more.

Tanghi added that the appellant was a juvenile and he must be treated leniently. He added that at the time of the occurrence he had not attained maturity.