Criminal Appeal No. 1006-SB of 2002 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ... Criminal Appeal No. 1006-SB of 2002 Date of decision: April 04, 2008 Surinder Singh alias Chhinda ... Appellant Versus State of Punjab ... Respondent ... Present: Mr. S. K. Laddi, Advocate for the appellant. Ms Manjari Nehru, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab, for the respondent-State. ... CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARBANS LAL ... JUDGMENT: HARBANS LAL, J This appeal is directed against the judgment/order of sentence dated 8.5.2002 rendered by the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Ludhiana, whereby convicted and sentenced Surinder Singh alias Chhinda to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 months under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ( for brevity, 'the Act'). Criminal Appeal No. 1006-SB of 2002 -2- Shortly put, facts of the prosecution case are that on 15.3.2000, Ravinder Pal Singh, SI/SHO of Police Station Sidhwan Bet, among other police officials happened to be present at the bank of Sutlej in government gypsy No.PB-25-1450 driven by Constable II-Sanjeev Kumar. Meanwhile, the accused was spotted approaching on Scooter No. PB-67-2360 from rive side. On catching sight of the police gypsy, he made an attempt to turn back. He fell down as his Scooter lost balance. There was a jute bag on the rear seat of the Scooter containing some objectionable articles. On being asked, the accused expressed his faith in the Sub Inspector, who carried out search of the jute bag. On search of the same, poppy husk was recovered. Two samples of 250 grams each were drawn from the bag. The residue, when weighed, came to 35.500 Kg. Meanwhile, Rulda Singh, PW came at the spot. He was also joined in the investigation. The sample as well as the jute bag were converted into parcels which were sealed with seal RPS. The sample seal was prepared. The parcels along with the Scooter were seized vide recovery memo. Ruqa was sent to the Police Station. On its basis, formal FIR was registered. The rough site plan showing the place of recovery was prepared. The accused was arrested. On return to the Police Station, the parcels were produced before ASI Harbans Singh, who after verification, affixed his own seal HS. The case property was deposited with MHC Chamkaur Singh. On receipt of Chemical Examiner's report and after completion of investigation, the charge sheet was laid in the Court for trial of the accused. The accused was charged under Section 15 of the Act to which he did not plead guilty and claimed trial. To bring home guilt against the accused, the prosecution has Criminal Appeal No. 1006-SB of 2002 -3- examined PW-1 Constable Lal Chand, PW-2 HC Chamkaur Singh, PW-3 SI Balbir Singh, PW-4 Harbans Singh ASI, PW-5 ASI Jasbir Singh and PW-6 Ravinder Pal Singh SI and closed its evidence. When examined under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal procedure, the accused denied all the incriminating circumstances appearing in the prosecution evidence against him and pleaded false implication. He has put forth that “ my mother has a civil dispute with her sister Hari wife of Bagga Singh, who is thick with the local police and got me implicated in this case as a pressure tactics.” He did not lead any evidence in defence. After hearing the learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State, the learned defence counsel and examining the evidence on record, the learned trial Court convicted and sentenced the accused as noticed at the outset. Feeling aggrieved therewith, he has come up in this appeal. I have heard Mr. S. K. Laddi, Advocate on behalf of the appellant and Ms Manjari Nehru, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab for the State, besides going through the record with due care and circumspection. Mr. S. K. Laddi, Advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant has not assailed the conviction on merits and the only submission made by him is that the appellant has already gone 2 years and 3 months of actual sentence and that being so, the sentence be reduced to the one already undergone. On appraisal of the prosecution evidence, it transpires that no hole worth the name can be picked in the findings returned by the learned trial Court in arriving at the conclusion that the charge is established against the accused. Sequelly, the conviction is upheld. The accused-appellant has been undergoing the agony of trial since long. Taking into consideration the entirety of facts and circumstances Criminal Appeal No. 1006-SB of 2002 -4- of this case, it transpires that the ends of justice will be met if the sentence is reduced to the already undergone. Consequently, the sentence is reduced to the one already undergone, while maintaining the fine imposed by the learned trial Court as well as its default clause. With this modification, this appeal is partly allowed. ( HARBANS LAL ) JUDGE April 04, 2008 RS