The appellate court must seek an answer to the question of whether the findings of the trial court are palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous, or demonstrably unsustainable before interfering with an order of acquittal.

JUDGMENT :

Uday Umesh Lalit, J.

1. This appeal under the provisions of Section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 read with Section 2(A) of the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 is directed against the judgment dated 26.05.2016 passed by the High Court¹[The High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla] reversing the acquittal rendered in favour of the appellants by the Trial Court²[The Special Judge, Fast Track, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh and order dated 20.06.2016 passed by the High Court imposing punishment of rigorous imprisonment of ten years, with imposition of fine in the sum of Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees One Lakh Only) in respect of the offence punishable under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (“the NDPS Act” for short).

2. For the sake of facility, we may reproduce the case of the prosecution as narrated by the High Court in its judgment and order under challenge:

“2. The case of the prosecution, in a nut shell, is that on 22.12.2010, HC Nand Lal along with other police personnel was on patrolling duty in official vehicle. They spotted the accused of Ruara Bridge sitting by the side of the road. The accused tried to abscond. They were apprehended. The bag was also lifted and brought to the vehicle. Word ‘COASTER’ was inscribed on the red coloured bag. The place was solitary and no independent person was available on the spot. The I.O. sent Const. Om Prakash (PW-7) to search for independent witnesses, however, he could not trace any independent witnesses. The I.O. associated Const. Om Prakash (PW-7) and Const. Bhupinder Singh as witnesses and checked the bag. On checking, stick and pancake like charas was recovered from the bag and some of the sticks were found to be wrapped in a polythene. The charas was weighed with the help of electronic scale. It weighed 1 kg. 500 grams. The charas was repacked in the same bag and bag was sealed in a cloth parcel with three seals of seal impressions “A”. The specimen of seal was obtained separately. Seal after use was handed over to Const. Om Prakash (PW-7). The I.O. filled in the NCB-I form in triplicate. Thereafter, I.O. prepared rukka. It was sent to the Police Station. FIR Ext. PW-2/B was registered. The I.O. prepared the spot map and handed over the case properly for resealing to ASI Naresh Chand (PW-2). He resealed the same with three seals of seal impression “T” and filed in column nos.9 to 11 of NCB-I form. On 23.12.2010, I.O. prepared the special report and produced the same before Dy. S.P. Kullu. ASI Naresh Chand deposited the parcel containing charas sealed with seal “A” and resealed with seal impression “T” along with NCB-I form in triplicate with MHC Chaman Lal, PW-1. He made necessary entry in the relevant register at Sr. No.149. The case property was sent to FSL, Junga. The report of the FSL is Ext. PX. The investigation was completed and the challan was put up before the Court after completing all the codal formalities.”

3. The prosecution mainly relied upon the testimonies of PW7 and PW8, namely Constable Om Prakash and Head Constable Nand Lal respectively. According to these witnesses, on the day in question at about 9.00 p.m. when the police party had reached the other side of the Ruara Bridge, they found the appellants sitting by the side of bonfire and a bag was lying on the ground near them. As the police put search light towards the direction of the appellants, the appellants tried to run away. The police party followed them and after having crossed a distance of about 100 meters, they were nabbed. Thereafter, the bag was also retrieved which was found to contain charas weighing about 1.5 kgs. According to the witnesses, the electronic weighing scale which was with the police party was utilized to check the weight of the contraband. Thereafter, the procedure for taking personal search of the accused was followed.

4. The entire evidence was considered by the Trial Court and in the opinion of the