FELIX ADEWOLE Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment and order dated 30th May, 2013 passed by the Special Court, Amritsar convicting the Appellant under Section 21 read with Section 8 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 ('NDPS Act') and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment (R.I.) for 15 years along with payment of fine of Rs. 1,50,000/- and, in default of payment of fine, to undergo further R.I. for one year.

(2.) Mr. Vipul Jindal, learned counsel for the Appellant points out that the Appellant is a Nigerian national and that he has been continuously in prison since 7th January, 2010. He has actually undergone more than 10 years and six months of imprisonment, of which more than seven years are post-conviction. He points out that during the entire period of incarceration the Appellant has never been released on bail or on parole for any reason whatsoever, and that his conduct in prison has been satisfactory.

(3.) Mr. Jindal states, on instructions, that the Appellant would not contest the appeal on merits but would only pray that the sentence awarded to him be confined to the period already undergone by him. Mr. Jindal points out that in the present appeal, the Appellant stands convicted for being in possession of 8 packets of heroin each weighing 1 kg, whereas in a case involving 26 kg of heroin i.e. CRA-D-598-DB of 2010 (Avtar Singh @ Tari and another v. Narcotics Control Bureau, Chandigarh), the Division Bench ('DB') of this Court reduced the sentence of the Appellant therein from R.I. of 15 years to R.I. of 11 years. Further, in a case involving 10 kg of heroin i.e. CRA-D-46-DB-2015 (Parshotam Lal Sondhi v. Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Amritsar), a DB of this Court reduced the sentence awarded from R.I. of 12 years to RI. of 10 years. He has also referred to an order dated 23rd March, 2018 passed by the Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No. 421 of 2014 (Sanjeev Kumar @ Tota v. State of Punjab) where in a case involving 10 kg of heroin, the sentence awarded was reduced from R.I. of 12 years to R.I. of 10 years.