Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Act(s) Referred | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985) |
Case(s) Referred | Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Dismissed |
Headnote | Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – s.20– Both the appellants were travelling on a motorcycle and one ofthem was with a backpack slung over his shoulders – A police teamstopped and searched them – They discovered polythene bagsweighing 3 Kg 100 gms containing charas – The prosecutionexamined nine witnesses to support their case of chance recovery,which included eight police officials and one independent witness,PW-3 – The appellant did not lead any defence evidence butpropounded an alternative version and claimed that while returningfrom a nearby temple, they had given a lift to an unidentified thirdperson – The backpack containing the recovered narcotics wasclaimed to be owned by the said stranger, who allegedly escapedfrom the spot – The trial Court acquitted the appellants holdingthat charges under the NDPS Act were not proved beyondreasonable doubt – The trial Court was also critical of the fact thatthe complainant, PW-8 himself was the investigating officer whichcaused serious prejudice to the fairness of the investigation – Itheld that no charas was recovered from the appellants as deposedby the independent witness, PW-3 – However, the High Court setaside the acquittal and convicted the appellants for possession ofcharas u/s. 20 of the NDPS Act and sentenced them to rigorousimprisonment for ten years – On appeal, held: The ConstitutionBench of the Supreme Court in Mukesh Singh v. State (NarcoticBranch of Delhi) has authoritatively settled the law that merelybecause the informant is the investigator, by that itself theinvestigation would not suffer the vice of unfairness or bias andtherefore on the sole ground that informant is the investigator, theaccused is not entitled to acquittal – Thus, in the instant case thereis no reason to draw any adverse inference against PW-8 himselfinvestigating his complaint – Certain actions (or lack thereof) bythe investigation or chinks in the prosecution case can’t be the solebasis for concluding bias – Further, the claim of appellants thatseized contraband was carried by an unknown stranger is ex-faciefanciful and is without any evidence – Infact, this has bolstered theprosecution case that appellants were present on the spot andinteraction with police had taken place and that search was notbased on any prior information but was spontaneous and thus, itwas a case of chance recovery – PW-3 himself claims that he wasnot present at the time of incident, his statement can at best beconstrued to mean that no charas was recovered in front of him,and not that no charas was recovered from the appellants at all –As correctly appreciated by the High Court in detail, non-examination of independent witnesses would not ipso facto entitleone to seek acquittal – The High Court has rightly relied upon thetestimonies of the government officials having found them to beimpeccable after detailed re-appreciation of the entire evidence –Thus, there is no merit in the appeals and the respondent-State isdirected to take appellants into custody to serve the remainder oftheir ten-year sentences. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice Surya Kant |
Neutral Citation | 2020 INSC 607 |
Petitioner | Rajesh Dhiman |
Respondent | State Of Himachal Pradesh |
SCR | [2020] 8 S.C.R. 1057 |
Judgement Date | 2020-10-26 |
Case Number | 1032 |
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