REKHA PARAMESWARI Vs. ASSISTANT COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant herein stands convicted by the learned Principal special Judge, under NDPS Act, Chennai in c. C. No. 54 of 1994 for the offences under section 8 (c) r/w 21 (c) of the NDPS Act, 1985, sentenced to undergo 15 years rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lakh in default to undergo 2 years rigorous imprisonment; under Section 23 r/w 28 of the ndps Act sentenced to undergo 15 years rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of rs. 1 lakh in default to undergo 2 years rigorous imprisonment and also under Section 135 (A) of the Indian Customs Act and sentenced to undergo 2 years rigorous imprisonment and the sentence of imprisonment to run concurrently. Aggrieved by the said conviction and sentence, the appellant herein had preferred this appeal.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution in brief is as follows: p. W. 1 Usharani, who was the Security officer at Madras Meenambakkam Airport, was on duty on 20. 02. 1989 at 6. 30 a. m. , and she was searching the female passengers who were bound to go in the Flight IC-573 to coloumbu. The Sub-Inspector of Police one mr. Pachimuthu, at 6. 45 a. m. , instructed P. W. 1 to search one passenger by name Gnanambigai Muthiah, who is the appellant herein. P. W. 1 searched her with handhold metal detector. As the metal detector struck, P. W. 1 touched with hands and she felt some soft powder substance being kept inside. When P. W. 1 enquired the accused, as there was no reply, she produced her before the Inspector of police who directed P. W. 1 to search her in a separate place in the presence of two witnesses. Two female witnesses were brought and the accused was searched by P. W. 1 in the presence of those two witnesses in the make-up room of the security officers. The dresses except undergarment of the accused were removed and searched and nothing was found concealed in the dress. P. W. 1 asked the accused to remove her Jetty which she was wearing. On verification, it was found that two jetties were stitched together and in between a polythene packet was concealed. P. W. 1 while enquired about it, was informed by the accused that it was brown sugar. The accused was produced before the inspector of Police and the Inspector of Police instructed her to produce the accused before the Customs Officers. On weighing the packet, it was found to contain 500 grams of brown sugar. The contraband and two jetties, passport and other articles were recovered under Ex. P. 1. Three packets of samples weighing 5 grams were also taken and the sample packets were sealed. P. W. 1 took the accused along with the seized articles and mahazar to P. W. 2, Prisy arogiyasamy, Superintendent of Customs Department.

(3.) P. W. 2 on receiving M. 0. 1 contrabands and samples M. O. 2 series and jetties M. O. 4, air ticket Ex. P. 2, Boarding Card Ex. P. 3 and other articles enquired the accused. The accused gave a statement before P. W. 2 and it was recorded. Ex. P. 9 is the statement which was written by the accused herself. As per the statement, the accused revealed her original name as Rekha Parameswari. She signed twice, one in the name of Rekha parameswari and another one in the name of Gnanambigai. P. W. 2 brought the accused from the Airport to the Customs Office and was produced before the Superintendent of police Vasudevan. The Customs Officer one thirumani arrested the accused. The accused was produced before the learned Magistrate for remand by the Customs Officer.