PESHAWAR, Aug 16: A juvenile convict has filed a criminal appeal before the Peshawar High Court, challenging his conviction by a special court (control of narcotics). The PHC will decide whether the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, could be applied to cases registered before its promulgation.

Appellant Bukhtiar Gul said he was a juvenile at the time of occurrence but he was not tried by the juvenile court. He pointed out that he was jointly tried with three adult accused which, he said, was a violation of the JJSO.

The question before the high court is whether the JJSO could be applied to his case as it was registered in 1997 whereas the JJSO was promulgated in 2000. The appeal will be heard on Aug 31.

The prosecution believes that the JJSO could not be applied with retrospective effect. Bukhtiar Gul and a co-accused were awarded life imprisonment on June 24, 2004. Two other co-accused were sentenced to four years imprisonment.

The Anti-Narcotics Force arrested Bukhtiar Gul on April 15, 1997 when he was travelling on his bus with driver Habibur Rehman and two others. The ANF had recovered 50kgs of charas from the bus.