LAHORE, April 1: A full bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to reappraise the entire prosecution evidence in a drug-trafficking case against former MNA Munawar Manj, while admitting a State appeal against the Lahore High Court verdict.

The LHC had set aside the capital punishment and one-million-rupee fine awarded to Mr Manj by a special anti-narcotics court. The LHC had further commuted the capital punishment of Mr Manj’s co-accused, Mohammad Siddique and Abdus Sattar, to life imprisonment in its Jan 28 verdict.

While admitting the appeal, a full bench of the SC comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Falak Sher and Karamat Nazir Bhandhari, directed Mr Manj to furnish a bail bond worth Rs5 million with the assistant registrar of the SC. It further ordered that the co-accused should not be released in case they completed their sentence before its decision on the appeal.

“The appeal would be heard at the earliest and the prosecution evidence tendered before the trial court reappraised to see as to whether principles of law regarding criminal dispensation were duly adhered to,” the bench observed.

Additional Advocate General

Mohammad Bilal Khan, appearing on behalf of the provincial government, argued that the LHC had not given proper consideration to confessional statements of the co-accused, who alleged they had been asked to move the contraband by the principal accused.

According to the AAG, evidence given by witnesses who turned hostile in the trial court, had also been brushed aside by the LHC.

The Punjab Anti-Narcotics Force in 1995 recovered 35kg of heroin and 30kg of charas from the possession of Mr Manj’s driver Sattar and guard Mohammad Siddique, who were allegedly taking the contraband to Lahore. Mr Manj was arrested by the ANF and booked on drug-trafficking charges following the statements of the co-accused. All three accused were sentenced to death by the trial court on Aug 10, 2001.