PHC restores remission rights for prisoners in narcotics cases

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has struck down amendments to federal narcotics law that had barred remission and sentence reduction for convicts, restoring earlier benefits to prisoners sentenced under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act (CNSA), 1997.

In a detailed 44-page judgment, a two-member bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Inamullah Khan ruled that Section 9A(1), inserted through the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2022, was unconstitutional. The court held that the provision violated Articles 4, 8, 9, 14, 25 and 10-A of the Constitution and failed to meet constitutional standards.

The court directed the government to extend to CNSA convicts all privileges and benefits available under the previous legal framework. It further ruled that any remission, sentence reduction or rehabilitative benefit already granted to prisoners convicted under the CNSA could not be taken away, declaring these to be vested rights under the law.

The bench ordered jail authorities to immediately review the cases of all prisoners who had been denied sentence reduction or other benefits solely because of the impugned amendments. It said that if their prison conduct and record were found satisfactory, they must be given all benefits that were available under the earlier law.

The PHC also instructed provincial and federal prison authorities to revisit all pending and previously rejected remission applications filed by CNSA convicts. It ordered them to submit a compliance report to the registrar of the Peshawar High Court within 45 days.

Justice Sahibzada Asadullah authored the detailed verdict. The writ petitions had been filed by prisoners including Muhammad Arshad and Iqbal Shah, along with others lodged in different jails. The petitioners were represented by advocates Fawad Afzal Safi, Farkhana Marwat, Amjad Noor and Amjad Ali Afridi, while Senior Advocate Shamail Ahmad Butt assisted the court as amicus curiae.