The High Court upheld the conviction of an appellant under Section 15 of the NDPS Act for possession of poppy husk. However, the court reduced the sentence of imprisonment to the period already undergone by the appellant and ordered his release.
Sentence of imprisonment reduced to the period already undergone; appellant directed to be released.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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Crl.Appeal. No. S-3418-SB of 2013
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
Crl.Appeal. No. S-3418-SB of 2013 (O&M) Date of decision : 22.10.2013
Kaila Singh
......Appellant
versus
State of Punjab
...Respondent
CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI
Present: Mr. A.S. Bhinder, Advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. Gurveer Sidhu, AAG, Punjab
1. To be referred to the Reporters or not?
2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
RITU BAHRI , J.
The present appeal is against the judgment dated
01.10.2013 passed by the learned Judge Special Court, Mansa whereby appellant was convicted and sentenced as under:-
Section Period of Sentence
15 NDPS Act Three months and fine of Rs.2000/-
Brief facts of the case are that on 06.10.2010, SI
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Crl.Appeal. No. S-3418-SB of 2013 -2-
Pritpal Singh along with other police official was going on private car from Mansa City to Mansa Khurd via Court road.When they reached near T-point of road leading to St.Xavier School, a person was seen carrying a plastic bag on his head. On suspicion, SI Pritpal Singh stopped the car and apprehended the accused with the help of other police officials. He disclosed his name as Kaila Singh. SI Pritpal Singh told accused that he suspects some contraband in the plastic bag which is to be searched. He apprised the accused of his legal right that he can get search of the bag conducted from any Magistrate or Gazetted Officer or he can be taken before any of them. Accused reposed faith in Investigating Officer. Consent memo was prepared which was attested by HC Bikkar Singh and private witness Jaila Singh. On search, 10 kg of poppy husk was found. 100 gms of poppy husk was separated as sample and prepared into a parcel. SI tied the bag with same string and made the parcel of the bulk. Both the sample and bulk parcel were sealed by SI Pritpal Singh with his seal bearing PS. Seal after use was handed over to HC Bikkar Singh. Ruqa was sent in the hand of PHG Kali Charan. On receipt of report of Chemical Examiner and on completion of necessary formailities, the challan under Section 15/61/85 of NDPS Act was prepared and presented in the Court.
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Crl.Appeal. No. S-3418-SB of 2013
Copies of challan and other documents were supplied to the accused, free of costs as per Section 207 Cr.P.C. Thereafter, accused was served with a charge sheet under Section15 NDPS Act to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed a trial.
Accused/appellant was examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C and entire incriminating evidence appearing against them was put to them, who denied the same and pleaded innocence.
Prosecution examined P.W.1 to P.w.5 to prove its
case.
The trial Court after going through the record and evidence led by the prosecution, convicted the accused as mentioned above.
Learned counsel for the appellant does not challenge the order of conviction but prays that the sentence qua imprisonment of the appellant be reduced to the period already undergone by him as he is facing trial for the last 03 years.
The judgment passed by the Court below do not require any interference and it is upheld. However, a lenient view is taken on the quantum of sentence of the appellant.
As per custody certificate dated 22.10.2013 filed by learned State counsel, appellant has undergone 01
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Crl.Appeal. No. S-3418-SB of 2013
month and 24 days out of the substantial sentence of 03 months awarded to him.
The appellant is a poor man and has three small children and his mother is old and remains ill. The contraband is also of non commercial in nature. The appellant is a first time offender and no case is pending against him under the NDPS Act.
Accordingly, keeping in view the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant, it is a fit case where the sentence qua imprisonment is liable to be reduced to already undergone by the appellant. Hence, the conviction of the appellant under Sections 15 of the NDPS Act is maintained and the sentence qua the imprisonment of the appellant is reduced to the period already undergone by him and a direction is given that the appellant be released to the satisfaction of CJM/Duty Magistrate, Mansa.
With the above modification/direction, the present petition stands disposed of.
(RITU BAHRI) JUDGE
October 22, 2013 G.Arora
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the appellant's sentence of three months imprisonment can be reduced to the period already undergone during the trial.
Whether the convicted appellant is entitled to release after serving part of the imprisonment.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Kaila Singh
State of Punjab
Ritu Bahri
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
