A drug court handed down a three-year rigorous imprisonment sentence to a man in a case dating back 13 years. The charges against him were related to the unlawful sale of counterfeit medications at his unlicensed medical store.
The verdict was delivered by a three-member drug court panel, chaired by Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, with Muhammad Arif Mithani, a pharmacist, and Aijaz Ahmed Khanzada, a medical expert, as the other members. After carefully considering the evidence and arguments presented by both sides, the court reached its decision.
The court found the man guilty of operating a medical store named Awab Enterprises without a proper license in the Katchi Gali medicine market. Moreover, he was engaged in the illegal sale of substandard, unregistered, and spurious medicines. As part of the sentencing, The man was ordered to pay a cumulative fine of Rs150,000. Failure to pay this amount would result in an additional eight months of imprisonment.
The court emphasized that the prosecution’s evidence, along with supporting documentary evidence such as laboratory reports, provided irrefutable proof that on September 2, 2010, The man had been running the unlicensed medical store in question. The store was located on the ground floor, with a godown on the first floor, within the Katchi Gali medicine market.
The man, who had been out on bail, was immediately taken into custody following the court’s decision. He was then transferred to the central prison to commence his prison term. However, the court acknowledged the period the man had already spent in jail since his arrest on September 3, 2010. Under Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, this period would be deducted from his overall prison term.
It is worth noting that the drug court had previously sentenced the man to one year in jail for this case in June 2011. However, the prosecution appealed against the trial court’s decision to the Sindh High Court (SHC), arguing for a more severe punishment. Consequently, the SHC remanded the case back to the drug court, instructing them to impose a suitable sentence in accordance with the law.
The state registered an FIR against the man under various sections of the Drugs Act 1976. The case was filed by Drug Inspector Syed Adnan Rizvi, who represented the state. Rizvi stated that during a joint operation conducted by the drug control administration of the health department and the Federal Investigation Agency, a raid was conducted on man’s shop and godown. The authorities seized a significant quantity of counterfeit and unregistered medicines, including Clomid, Voren, Panadol CF, Cofcal, Pyricam, Cetan, Napa 125 suppositories, and Cipralex.
In a separate but related case, man’s brother received a 15-day prison sentence and a fine of Rs50,000. Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional 10 days of imprisonment for his brother.
