KISHORI LAL Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of an appeal filed by the appellant under Section 36 B of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, hereinafter referred to as the N.D.P.S. Act read with Section 374 Cr.P.C., against the judgment passed by the learned Special Judge, Chamba, vide which the appellant was convicted and sentenced under Section 20 of the N.D.P.S. Act to suffer rigorous imprisonment for eight years and to pay fine of Rs.80,000/-. In case of default in the payment of fine, the appellant was to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated the facts of the case are that on 28.9.2004 PW-1 ASI Ranjeet Singh alongwith PW-6 H.C. Tilak Raj, PW-2 C. Surinder 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes. Kumar, PW-3 C. Kamlesh Kumar and PW-4 Raj Kiran were present at Rajpura Mod at about 11.30 AM when they saw one person who tried to run away on seeing the police party. The said person Kishori Lal was apprehended and on search of the bag being carried by him Charas was recovered, which on weighment was found to be 800 grams. Two samples of 25 gram each were taken from the bulk of Charas and these were separately sealed and taken into possession in accordance with procedure. The Investigating Officer supplied grounds of arrest to the appellant, prepared Ruka and sent the same to Police Station on which case was registered. After registration, the case was filed in the Court and the case was assigned to the learned trial Court by Sessions Judge Chamba, who tried the appellant under Section 20 of the N.D.P.S. Act resulting in his conviction and sentence as detailed above.

(3.) THE first plea raised by the learned counsel for the appellant during the course of arguments was that the provisions of Section 42 of the Act were not complied with since it was a case of prior information and as such, there has been non-compliance of the mandatory provisions of the Act.