Madras High Court
Thanalakshmi vs The State Rep. By on 4 October, 2023
Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
(Criminal Jurisdiction)
Dated: 04/10/2023
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE G.ILANGOVAN
Crl.OP(MD)No.16684 of 2023
1.Thanalakshmi
2.Rasathi
3.Nagapandi : Petitioners/A3 to A5
Vs.
The State rep. by
The Inspector of Police,
Pattiveeranpatti Police Station,
Dindigul District.
(Crime No.3 of 2023) : Respondent/Complainant
For Petitioners : Mr.R.Anand
For Respondent : Mr.S.Ravi
Additional Public Prosecutor
PETITION FOR BAIL Under Sec.439 of Cr.P.C.
PRAYER:- For Bail in Crime No.3 of 2023 on the file
of the respondent police.
ORDER: The Court made the following order:-
The petitioners/A3 to A5 were arrested and remanded
to judicial custody, on 03/01/2023 for the offences
punishable under sections 8(c) r/w 20(b)(ii)(C), 29(1)
and 25 of NDPS Act, in Crime No.3 of 2023 on the file of
the respondent police, seek bail.
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
2.The case of the prosecution is that on secrete
information from the police informer, the de-facto
complainant along with the police team went to
Pattiveeranpatti to Ayyankottai road, near a grocery
shop, they found a Car bearing registration No.TN-68-
X-999 and a Two Wheeler bearing registration No.TN-57-
BX-7294 along with some packages. On seeing the police
team, all the persons tried to escape from that place.
They were surrounded and enquired. At the time of
enquiry, Thasildar, Nilakkotai and Village Assistant were
available. With the consent of the accused, they made
search and found 40 kgs of Ganja. Samplings were taken as
per the procedure in the presence of the revenue
officials. On enquiry, they disclosed their name as
Sakthivel, Thanalakshmi, Rajathi and Nagapandi.
Similarly, search was made in the two wheeler and 20 kgs
of Ganja was also recovered from the above said two
wheeler. They also disclosed their name as Sakthivel and
another escaped from that place. The accused were
arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
3.Seeking bail, this petition has been filed by the
petitioners, who are arrayed as A3 to A5.
4.Heard both sides.
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
5.Section 52-A(2) of the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, reads as follows:-
“52-A.Disposal of seized narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances-(1)
The Central Government may, having
regard to the hazardous nature,
vulnerability to theft, substitution,
constraint of proper storage space or
any other relevant consideration, in
respect of any narcotic drugs,
psychotropic substances, controlled
substances or conveyances, by
notification in the Official Gazette,
specify such narcotic drugs,
psychotropic substances, controlled
substances or conveyance or class of
narcotic drugs, class of psychotropic
substances, class of controlled
substances or conveyances, which shall,
as soon as may be after their seizure,
be disposed of by such officer and in
such manner as that Government may, from
time to time, determine after following
the procedure hereinafter specified.
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
(2)Where any narcotic drugs,
psychotropic substances, controlled
substances or conveyances has been
seized and forwarded to the officer-in-
charge of the nearest police station or
to the officer empowered under section
53, the officer referred to in sub-
section (1) shall prepare an inventory
of such narcotic drugs, psychotropic
substances, controlled substances or
conveyances containing such details
relating to their description, quality,
quantity, mode of packing, marks,
numbers or such other identifying
particulars of the narcotic drugs,
psychotropic substances, controlled
substances or conveyances or the packing
in which they are packed, country of
origin and other particulars as the
officer referred to in sub-section (1)
may consider relevant to the identity of
the narcotic drugs, psychotropic
substances, controlled substances or
conveyances in any proceedings under
this Act and make an application, to any
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
Magistrate for the purpose of--
(a)certifying the correctness of
the inventory so prepared; or
(b)taking, in the presence of such
magistrate, photographs of such drugs,
substances or conveyances and certifying
such photographs as true; or
(c)allowing to draw representative samples of such
drugs or substances, in the presence of such magistrate and
certifying the correctness of any list of samples so drawn.
6.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners
by heavily relying upon the above said provision would
submit that no proper sampling was undertaken soon after
the arrest made; Even the certificate that has been
issued by the concerned Presiding Officer appears to be
not legal, since no material is available to show that
proper application was filed by the Investigating Officer
to take up the sample.
7.For that purpose, entire records have been called
for from the trial court and certificate has also been
issued by the competent trial Judge. This fact was also
elaborated by me in the earlier order.
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
8.Now the learned counsel appearing for the
petitioners entertained doubt about the very genuineness
of the certificate and the manner in which, the above
said samplings were drawn. But absolutely, I find no
substance in the argument, when official documents are
available, unless the valid ground is available to the
petitioners, they cannot dispute the same.
9.It is the general presumption that every officer
act is performed correctly in the course of business.
Absolutely, I find no reason entertain any doubt with
regard to the genuineness of the document.
10.The contention that no such copy was made
available, cannot be a matter for consideration. If the
petitioners wants copy of the application or certificate,
they can very well approach the concerned trial court and
get the certified copy. So, I find absolutely no reason
to entertain this argument.
11.The next ground is that sampling was not
undertaken as per the above said provisions, since only
the assistance of the revenue officials were sought and
in their presence, search was made.
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
12.But the learned Additional Public Prosecutor
would submit that section 52-A(2) of the Act does not
deal about the sampling taken soon after the arrest.
Section 52-A(2) deals about the disposal of the
properties and sending the same for chemical analysis.
13.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners
would further submit that since the property was not
produced before the concerned Presiding Officer soon
after the seizure, there is a violation of section 52A(2)
of the Act. He would also rely upon the judgments
reported in the case of Mangilal Vs. The State of Madhya
Pradesh (2023 Livelaw SC 549) and 2023 SCC OnLine SC 906
(Simarnjit Singh Vs. State of Punjab).
14.But here, Form-95 has been prepared soon after
the seizure. It was also produced before the competent
Presiding Officer. Sampling was also taken as per the
provisions of section 52A(2) of the Act. So, the
contention on the part of the petitioners that the
property was not produced before the Presiding Officer
soon after the recovery is not also correct on record.
15.Except the above said grounds, no other ground
worth considering has been made by the petitioners, since
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Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
this ground is not sufficient enough to satisfy the
requirement of section 37 of the NDPS Act.
16.For the reasons stated above, I find no merit to
entertain this petition.
17.In the result, this criminal original petition is
dismissed.
04/10/2023
Index:Yes/No
Internet:Yes/No
er
To,
1.The Principal Special Court for
Trial of Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act cases,
Madurai.
2.The Inspector of Police,
Pattiveeranpatti Police Station,
Dindigul District.
3.The Additional Public Prosecutor,
Madurai Bench of Madras High Court,
Madurai.
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
G.ILANGOVAN, J
er
Crl.OP(MD)No.16684 of 2023
04/10/2023
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
Crl.O.P.(MD)No.16684 of 2023
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
