BALBIR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Criminal Revision has been directed against the judgment and order dated November 23, 1989 passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Fathegarh Sahib whereby the petitioner was held guilty under Section 9 of the Opium Act and upon conviction, was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- in default whereof to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 months as well as against the judgment dated May 18, 1990 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala partly allowing the petitioner's appeal against the above mentioned judgment and order dated November 23, 1989 of the learned Judicial Magistrate, to the extent that after upholding the conviction, the petitioner's sentence was reduced from two years to one year rigorous imprisonment without effecting any change in the amount of fine.

(2.) AS per the prosecution case, on July 23, 1985, a police party led by ASI Baisakha Singh was coming to P.S. Mullepur after patrolling in the villages Fagan Majra and Chalela and when they reached on the link road of Chalela, the petitioner was seen coming from the opposite side. On seeing the police, the petitioner got perturbed and turned towards village Nandpur Kesho. Upon suspicion, he was apprehended and was searched which led to the recovery of 10 kgs. of opium from his possession which was wrapped in a glazed paper contained in a tin. 20 grams of opium was taken out as a sample. The sample as well as the remaining opium were put into two separate parcels and were sealed and after the other requisite formalities, a formal FIR Ex. PC/1 was recorded. The petitioner was accordingly put to trial.

(3.) RELYING upon the prosecution version and having held that both of its witnesses are consistent in their respective depositions which cannot be discarded merely because they are official witnesses, the learned Judicial Magistrate held the petitioner guilty of committing an offence under Section 9 of the Opium Act. Learned Additional Sessions Judge also repelled the petitioner's contention that the prosecution case suffers from doubts as no independent witness was joined at the time of recovery allegedly made on a road near the village. Similarly, the argument that no sanctity could be attached to the case property described as 'opium' for the reason that the tin in which it was allegedly kept and sealed was found to be in a dilapidated condition, was also negatived for the reason that the tin was found in a poor condition for want of proper arrangements for safe custody in the Malkhana and also on account of the natural wear and tear due to passage of time. Similarly, the learned Additional Sessions Judge found no reason to disbelieve the prosecution version that one of the constables was sent to village Fagan Majra to bring the weighing scale etc. whereupon the Investigating Officer weighed 20 grams of opium to take out as a sample. The learned Additional Sessions Judge, however, reduced the sentence of imprisonment from two years to one year.