Supreme Court quashes High Court order on alleged drug kingpin's arrest

Supreme Court on Sunday quashed a High Court order remanding Arshad Khalid who is accused by police of being the kingpin of a drug network.

Arshad, along with others, was arrested on January 31, 2020, on charges of widespread drug trafficking. During the police operation:

While the police had alleged Arshad's involvement in the case, the Criminal Court acquitted everyone except two. 

The Prosecutor General's (PG) office filed an appeal over the Criminal Court judgement.

The High Court on June 7 issued a remand order for Arshad. Arshad, however, approached the Supreme Court, saying it was an illegal order.

In his plea, Arshad had sought a direction to the High Court to declare the High Court's order as violative of procedure.

During the hearings in the Supreme Court, Arshad's attorney Noorul Salam Abubakar said that though Arshad had claimed that he had fled the country, he had left for Sri Lanka after making sure that there were no pending trials.

When he left in December, he had no pending trials. Since the High Court did not pass any order before his departure, it cannot be said that he is absconding before the High Court, the attorney said.

In response, the PG office said that Arshad's detention order was correct as it was certain that he was not in the country even when his case was filed in the High Court.

Justice Mahaz Ali Zahir, who presided over the case, said in his opinion that there was no order in effect for Arshad when the High Court issued its order. A detention order cannot be issued on the ground that he has failed to appear before the High Court, Mahaz pointed out.

According to the Criminal Procedure Code and the rules relating to summoning of persons to the High Court, a person can be summoned in custody only if they fail to appear before the court and without a warrant. The judge noted in his opinion that since the High Court had not passed any prior order in the case, there was no need for custodial interrogation.

Justice Azmiralda Zahir and Justice Husnu Suood backed Mahaz's opinion. 

Meanwhile, police on Wednesday released alleged drug kingpin Arshad Khalid less than a day after its arrest for a second time. 

He was arrested on Tuesday under a warrant in connection with an ongoing case, but was released Wednesday afternoon. According to the police, Arshad was released as there was not enough evidence to remand him.