The single judge bench of Justice H.S. Madaan of the Punjab and Haryana high court in the case of Chotta Singh vs State of Haryana held that the drug peddlers have successfully destroyed the social fabric of our society and led youth to the wrongful path. Such type of persons needs to be dealt with firmly and sternly and no sympathy can be shown to them lest that should prove to be counterproductive and result in increased drug trafficking.
BRIEF FACTS
The factual matrix of the case is that the IO received secret information that the resident of Fatehpuri was indulging in the selling of poppy husk in an abandoned house in dilapidated condition located in the middle of the village and if a raid was conducted, he could be apprehended. When the raiding team reached there, the accused was found sitting on the bags, and on seeing the police party, the accused stood up and started walking away briskly; he was apprehended on the basis of suspicion and his name and other particulars were inquired about, which he disclosed; there were four bags in his possession.
The accused was convicted for an offense under section 15 of the Narcotics and psychotropic substance, 1985.
COURT’S OBSERVATION
The hon’ble court rejected the submission made by the appellant that the discrepancies make the prosecution story doubtful on the ground that a few minor contradictions in their statements do not go to the root of the matter since those are bound to occur due to the difference in power of perception, observation, and retention of events of various persons and so also due to lapse of memory on account of the passage of time. Another contention made by the appellant that Ex-Sarpanch was not examined by the prosecution, rather he appeared as a witness in defense and denied having joined the police party or any recovery having been effected from the accused in his presence, which creates a serious dent in the prosecution story causing a reasonable doubt in the mind about its truthfulness. Therefore, the benefit of the doubt should be given to the accused and he deserves to be acquitted of the charge framed against him. Which was duly rejected by the hon’ble court on the ground that it has to be kept in mind that many times human beings do get influenced by various factors like close proximity with a person, accused of an offense, considerations like caste, creed religion, and factors like the person, accused belonging to the same village or town, which make them hesitant to speak the truth and rather presenting a wrong version to help the accused. Merely because the independent witness had chosen not to support the prosecution story, the prosecution story does not get adversely affected for that reason since as already observed, the official witnesses did not have any motive to involve the accused in this case wrongly or depose against him to secure his conviction.
The court further relied upon the judgments titled Krishan Kumar Versus State of Punjab and Sucha Singh Versus State of Punjab.
The hon’ble high court held that the prosecution has proved its charge against the accused conclusively and affirmatively. The accused could not render any reasonable or plausible explanation for his alleged false implication nor could he account for possession of the contraband without any license or permit thereby showing that he was in conscious possession of the contraband. The accused was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years, which is the minimum prescribed sentence for possession of a commercial quantity of contraband. Even otherwise, the appellant/accused for a pecuniary benefit opted to play with the lives and health of people of the area by making them addicted to taking drugs. The drug peddlers have successfully destroyed the social fabric of our society and led youth to the wrongful path. Such types of persons need to be dealt with firmly and sternly and no sympathy can be shown to them lest that should prove to be counterproductive and result in increased drug trafficking. Therefore, the sentence awarded to the appellant/accused is not found to be on the very high side and does not call for any reduction.
CASE NAME- Chotta Singh vs State of Haryana
CITATION- CRA-S-1028-SB-2007(O&M)
DATE- 09.09.22
CORUM- Justice H.S. Madaan
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