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Thursday July 17, 2025

SHC grants bail to Sahir Hasan in narcotics case as trial court judge yet to be appointed

By Jamal Khurshid
May 03, 2025
Actor Sajid Hassans son Sahir Hassan being produced before court in this undated photo. — Screengrab via Geo News/File
Actor Sajid Hassan's son Sahir Hassan being produced before court in this undated photo. — Screengrab via Geo News/File

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday granted bail to a television actor’s son in a weed selling case. The high court also directed the provincial government to ensure the establishment of a special court under the anti-narcotics law and appointment of judges in the court in accordance with the law so that cases of narcotics-related offence be tried and the petitioner and others may not left languishing in jail without recourse.

Syed Sahir Hasan was arrested by the police on February 22 from DHA area and police recovered 557 grammes of weed from his possession.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon after hearing the arguments of the counsel and perusal of the record of the case observed that the petitioner was arrested no doubt arrested red-handed on the spot with 557 grammes of weed in his possession but both the prosecution and the petitioner’s counsel had stated that based on the amount found on the petitioner, the sentence under the law may be extended to three years but shall not be less than one year with a fine up to Rs100,000.

The high court observed that in narcotics cases, bail was sparingly granted as it was crime against society, which especially endangered the youth and this was the reason that bail had been ousted from the

Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

The bench observed that it had been noted that the amount of recovery in the instant case was relatively minor and in such circumstances, bail ought to be granted rather than refused.

The high court observed that keeping this aspect aside what weighed more heavily in mind was that the petitioner had been kept in custody for more than two-and-a-half months without charge being framed and trial proceedings, which, if commenced, might have resulted in the sentence of one year in jail.

The SHC observed that the reason for not the framing of charge was that no judge had been appointed for the special anti-narcotics court.

The high court observed that non-appointment of judge of the CNS court meant that the applicant may be kept in jail for years before his trial even commenced simply because the government had failed to appoint the judge in the vacant court.

The SHC observed that this was a completely unacceptable situation that deprived the petitioner of his fundamental right to expeditious trial, which under the law ought to be completed within six months.

The high court observed that since there was no judge at the trial court, no charge had been framed, and as the amount of recovered narcotics was minor, the petitioner was released on bail with a surety of Rs1 million.

The SHC directed the petitioner to appear before court on each and every date when the court was functional without fail.

The high court also observed that the acting prosecutor general had stated that the special court had not been established in spite of the fact that it had exclusive jurisdiction to try such cases.

The SHC directed the provincial government to ensure the establishment of the special court in accordance with the law so that cases of narcotics-related offence could be tried, and the petitioner and others may not be left languishing in jail without recourse.