The Lahore High Court has granted post arrest bail to a petitioner involved in a case of selling liquor. Petitioner Waqas Shah was caught red-handed by city police Pakpattan while selling the liquor. A case under sections 3/4 of Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO), 1979 was registered against the petitioner.
Petitioner counsel pleaded that the section 3 of PEHO was not attracted in the case at all for the reason that there was no evidence regarding manufacturing or selling the liquor which had been recovered from him.
Moreover, counsel argued that the section 4 of the said Order is bailable offence, therefore, the petitioner is liable to be released on bail. Meanwhile, a deputy prosecutor general appearing before the court opposed the bail application saying that the petitioner was nominated in the FIR with specific role of selling huge quantity of liquor.
After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court observed that there was no denying the fact that the petitioner was caught red-handed by the police while being in possession of huge quantity of liquor but the court has to examine the case from all angles. The judge agreed with the argument of petitioner's counsel that the section 3 of PEHO was not attracted in the instant case and said the police also violated section 103 Cr.P.C. by not associating any independent witness from the locality. While granting bail, the judge was convinced that the petitioner's case is that of further inquiry in to his guilt, hence, admitted bail.