Cr.Appeal No.261 of 1996 18.5.2010 Present: Mr.Vivek Singh Thakur, Addl.A.G with Mr.Rajesh Mandhotra, Dy.A.G, for the appellant. Mr.Ramakant Sharma, Advocate for the respondent alongwith the respondent. Heard on the question of quantum of sentence. The accused has been convicted under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. 1 Kg. and 230 grams of charas was recovered from him. However, the resin content is 34.45% and, therefore, the offence will be qua 424 grams of charas only in view of the law laid down by this Court in Dharam Pal Vs. State of H.P, 2007 (2) Shimla Law Cases, 19. Sh.Ramakant Sharma, learned counsel for the accused submits that the accused was 33 years of age when the alleged offence was committed. He is now 48 years old. He has two children. His elder daughter is studying in Engineering and his son is studying in +1 class. The accused is also maintaining his aged parents who are unwell. He has therefore, prayed that a lenient view in the matter be taken and the accused may be sentenced to the period of imprisonment already undergone by him. The accused has spent approximately 8 months and 9 days in jail during the course of trial. In our view, this is not sufficient punishment for this offence. The accused has been caught with a fairly large quantity of contraband, i.e. charas. It may not be a commercial quantity but the resin content of 424 grams is quite huge. On the other hand, we are also not oblivious to the fact that while imposing punishment on the accused after a period of 15 years, we are punishing the members of his family also. The accused is definitely not responsible for the delay in the decision of this appeal which was filed in the year 1996 and came up for hearing in the year 2010, after 14 years. This by itself is a circumstance to be taken in favour of the accused. Keeping in view all these aforesaid facts into consideration, we feel that in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the ends of justice shall be met if the accused is directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and to pay a fine of Rs.50,000/-. In case of default of payment of fine, he shall be liable to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. The accused shall be entitled to set off a period of incarceration which he has undergone during trial. The accused is directed to surrender within one month from today failing which the Trial Court shall execute the sentence. (Deepak Gupta), Judge May 18, 2010(m) (Sanjay Karol), Judge