IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Appeal No. 999-SB of 2001 Date of Decision : 15.11.2010. Makhan Ram & another ......Appellants Versus State of Punjab ......Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAWAB SINGH Present: Ms. Subhpreet Kaur, Advocate for Mr. A.S. Kalra, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. V.K. Jindal, Addl. AG Punjab with Ms. Neelam Birara, AAG Punjab, for the respondent-State. NAWAB SINGH J. This appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated May 2nd, 2001 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Mansa, whereby, the accused-appellants were convicted for the offence under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay fine of Rs.1 lac, each with default stipulation. 2. At the outset, learned counsel for the appellants has stated that she does not challenge the judgment of conviction on merits and confines her arguments only regarding quantum of sentence. She further submitted that the accused were in their 20s at the time of commission of crime and have faced the agony of protracted trial. Further, the appellants remained in custody for more than one year. Keeping in view the aforesaid mitigating circumstances, the sentence imposed upon the appellants be reduced to the one already undergone by them. 3. In this case, the accused-appellants were apprehended while in possession of 35 kgs of poppy husk and the offence relates to the year 1997. The accused have already spent more than one year in custody. This Court is of the opinion that as Criminal Appeal No. 999-SB of 2001 (2) the accused-appellants suffered the agony of protracted criminal proceedings spreading over a long 13 years, no useful purpose shall now be served by sending them behind the bars for any further period. 4. As a result, this Court upholds the conviction of the appellants but reduces the sentence to the period already undergone by them. The sentence of fine is also reduced to Rs.5000/- each. In default of payment of fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months. The appeal is accepted partly as indicated above. (NAWAB SINGH) JUDGE 15.11.2010. SN