PESHAWAR, Oct 1: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Friday acquitted a person earlier convicted by a trial court in a case of drug peddling.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi accepted criminal appeal of Bashir Ahmad, observing that there were various flaws in the prosecution case.

The bench observed that the police had violated Article 14 of the Constitution which guaranteed privacy of home as they had not taken women police during raid on the residence.

The officials of Pishtakhara police claimed that they had prior tip about presence of a proclaimed offender Ahmad Zia in the residence of the appellant Bashir Ahmad at Umeedabad on Oct 5, 2003.

They claimed that a police party headed by the DSP Gul Afzal Khan raided the residence of the appellant, but the proclaimed offender could not be traced there. However, the police claimed that they recovered three kilograms of heroin during search of the premises.

The additional district and sessions judge had convicted the appellant on July 8 and sentenced him to five years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 200,000. The appellant's counsel Noor Alam Khan contended that when the police raided the residence in search of a PO and when he was not there they had no legal right to search things in the residence.

He added that although they had prior information about presence of the PO, but they had not associated lady constables during search while women were present in the house, which was violation of law.

Mr Khan argued that no where it was on record that Ahmad Zia was a PO as the police could not produce any FIR against him. Moreover, he added, the police could not establish any relation between the alleged PO and the appellant.

He added that one of the sons of the appellant, Shakeel Khan, had a dispute with a close relative of Gul Afzal due to which the police had registered a concocted case against the appellant.