^ V... v^.6^€ ..^'^df •^;y y .**'^4<*.r:-c^' IN THE HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR ^. —- - Cr. A. N0.-^ ^/2008 fS.B.V APPELLANTS fln Jail) 1. 2. rS^ 5^w^ ^^ <^^ RESPONDENT Kumari Seema Chauhan D/o. Shri Chhedilal Chauhan, aged about 19 years, Occupation : None. 1 Ku. Radha @ Radhika Chauhan, D/o. Shri Chhedi Lal Chauhan, aged about : 18 years, Occupation : None All are R/o. Dewal Chouk, Near Sanichari Bazar, Bilaspur, Police Station : Sarkanda, Distt. Bilaspur (C.G.) VERSUS State of Chhattisgarh Through : Police Station : Arjuni, Distt. Dhamtari (C.G.) CRIMINAL APPEAL UNDER SECTION 374 (2^0F CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE.11973 HIGH COURT OF GHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR (Hon. Mr. Justice Pritinker Diwaker) Criminal Appeal No. 367 of 2008. APPELLANTS RESPONDENT VERSUS Kumari Seema Chauhan and another State of Chhattisgarh. Shri V.K. Pandey counsel for appellants. ShriVivek Sharma PL forrespondent/State. CRIMINAL APPEAL UNDER SECTION 374 (2} OF THE CODE OF CRIM1NALPROCEDURE. JUDGMENT (05.05.2010) This appeal is directed against thejudgmentdated 1^:02.2008 passed by Special Judge (NDPS Act) Dhamtari in,S,pecial CasejNo. 35/2007 convicting the accused/appellants for tbe; pffence pynishable under ^Section 20-b (ii) (B) of the Narcotic DFibig^ |irrcl? PsycFlotropiO SubstanceAct (forshort 'the Act'). Accused/appellant Ku. Seema.Chauhan has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and payfine of Rs. 70,000, in default ofpaymentQffin^,tofurther undergo simple jmprisonment for one year. SimilaFly,a(2cused/appellant Ku. Radha alias Radhika Chauhan has been sentenced to undergo.rigorous imprisonment for five years and pay fine of Rs. 50,000, in default of payrnent of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for pne year. 2. Case of the prosecution in brief is that upon receiving an information from the informant on 18.03.2007 that the appellants were in possession of Ganja, they were apprehended by the police near Shyamtarai Forest Barrier and after giving them notice and preparing the Panchnama, 11.100 Kg. of Ganja was seized from accused/appellant Ku. Seema and 6.250 Kg. of Ganja was seized from accused/appellant Ku. Radha. After completing all the legal formalities FIR Ex. P-38 was registered and the appellants were prosecuted accordingty. ^- 3. So as to hold the accused/appellants guilty, prosecution has examined 11 witnesses in support of its case. Statements of the accused/appellants were also recorded under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in which they denied the charge levelled against them and pleaded their innocence and false implication in the case. 4. After hearing the parties the trial Court has convicted and sentenced the accused / appellants for the offence as mentioned above. 5. Heard counsel forthe parties and perused the material available on record including thejudgment impugned. 6. Counsel for the appellantssubmits that he is not pressing this appeal as far as it relates to conviction part of the impugned judgment and would confine his arguments only to the sentence part thereof. He submits that both the appellants are young girls aged about 19-18 years respectively, that they are unmarried and belong to poor family, that they are in jail since 18 March, 2007 i.e. for more than three years, that this is the first offence alleged against them and no past criminal record is there against them. 7. Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed. Conviction part of the impugned judgment is hereby maintained. However, keeping in mind the fact that appellants are young girls aged about 19-18 years respectively, that they are unmarried and belong to poor family, that they are in jail since 18 March, 2007 i.e. for more than three years, that this is the first offence alleged against them and no past criminal record is there against them, the jail sentence imposed by the Court below is reduced to the period already undergone by them. 8. Counsel for the appellants made a prayer to reduce the sentence of fine also as according to him the appellants are very poor and not in a position to pay the fine amount as directed by the Court below. Accordingly, the prayer made by the accused/appellants for reduction of fine amount being genuine is allowed. Now, the appellant No.1 Ku. Seema Chauhan shall pay a fine of Rs. 35,000 in stead of Rs. 70,000 and Ku. Radha alias --3 Radhika Chauhan shall pay a fine of Rs. 25,000 in stead of Rs. 50,000 as directed by the Court below. It is however directed that if the fine amount as directed by this Court is not paid within a period of five months from the date of receipt of copy of this order, the entire sentence imposed by the Court below shall stand restored. 9. Appeal is thus partly allowed. Sd/- Pritinker Diwaker Judge