UMA Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FEELING aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 5-12-2003 passed by Special Judge, Mandla, in Special Case No. 2/2003 convicting the appellant under Section 20 (b) (i) of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (in short 'the Act') and sentencing her to suffer rigorous imprisonment of three years and fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default, further imprisonment of nine months, the appellant has knocked the door of this Court by preferring the appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

(2.) BEREFT of unnecessary details the facts lie in a narrow compass that in the night of 22-1-2003 Sub Inspector (Excise) Shiv Charan Choudhary received an information through one informant Raju Yadav that one person is carrying liquor in the Balaghat Nainpur G. B. N. Train, as a result of which he alongwith Head Constable Omkar Singh, Sub Inspector Samhar Singh and some other persons alongwith informant Raju Yadav arrived at Platform No. 4. The train came in the late night at 3. 00 hours and one lady alighted from one Compartment. These persons made suspicion on that lady and stopped her. Lady Constable Deep Mahis searched her belongings and found that she was carrying some substance weighing 21. 500 kgs. in her lap. The Excise party doubted the said substance to be "ganja". The lady was unable to understand Hindi and was speaking Tclgu language, as a result of which Shri Choudhary called a retired Railway Supervisor Kunjanam Pattu Bhaskar Rao who translated the conversation into Telgu language and the words spoken by appellant, in Hindi. During the process of translation, it was found that the appellant is the resident of Warangal District of State of A. P. and she came alongwith three other ladies, namely, Nailamba, Sarupa and Shobha and those ladies handed over the contraband article to her. On seeing the police, those three ladies left her and fled from the spot. The appellant narrated her name and the address of Village Ganpur, Distt. Warangal. After inquiring from her, Shri Choudhary prepared Exs. P-2 to P-4, P-6 and P-7 as well as Ex. P-8 which is spot map. The appellant was arrested and after completing the investigation, a charge-sheet was submitted on 7-3-2003.

(3.) THE appellant was charged under Section 20 (b) (i) of the Act which she denied.