Mandatory procedures under the NDPS Act must be strictly adhered to, particularly regarding searches, and non-compliance can lead to wrongful conviction.

JUDGMENT :

ARVIND KUMAR VERMA, J.

1. This appeal is preferred under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 26.11.2021 passed by learned Special Judge (NDPS Act), Baloda Bazar, District-Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara (C.G.) in Special Criminal Case (N.D.P.S.) No. 05/2017, wherein the said Court convicted the appellant and sentenced her as under:-

2. As per case of the prosecution, on 07.04.2017 at about 16:05 hours, Station House Officer (SHO) K.S. Usendi of Police Station Bilaigarh, along with Sub-Inspector R.S. Singh, Constable No. 726 Pandu Bhardwaj, Constable No. 543 Hemant Rajput, and Lady Constable No. 452 Mohan Kumari, proceeded on routine patrol duty towards village Pawani for the purpose of curbing illegal activities relating to illicit liquor, gambling, and narcotic substances. At approximately 16:25 hours, while present in village Pawani, SHO K.S. Usendi received credible secret information from a reliable informant that one Shankar Lal Shrivas, resident of village Pawani, was illegally possessing and selling narcotic substance (ganja) from his house, and that immediate raid would result in recovery of contraband. Acting upon the said information, SHO K.S. Usendi reduced the information into writing vide Exhibit P/04 and prepared the preliminary information report vide Exhibit P/01. Notice under Section 42 of the NDPS Act was prepared (Exhibit P/03). The information so recorded was forthwith communicated to the Sub- Divisional Officer (Police), Bilaigarh, through Constable No. 726 Pandu Bhardwaj in compliance with the mandatory provisions of law. Thereafter, in the presence of independent witnesses namely Ramcharan Sahu and Munnalal Sahu, the police party proceeded to take lawful action on the basis of the said information. During the course of the raid, the accused Shankar Lal Shrivas was not found present at his house. However, his wife, namely accused Smt. Prakash Bai, was found present therein. She was apprised, in the presence of independent witnesses namely Ramcharan Sahu and Munnalal Sahu, about the secret information received by the police regarding possession and sale of illegal narcotic substance. Prior to conducting the search, notice under Section 50 of the NDPS Act (Exhibit P/05) was duly served upon accused Smt. Prakash Bai, informing her of her legal right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate. The accused, after understanding the contents of the notice, gave her written consent for her house to be searched by the police party itself in the presence of witnesses, which was recorded vide Exhibit P/06. Thereafter, personal search of the accused was conducted by the police party in the presence of independent witnesses, and memorandum/panchnama thereof was prepared vide Exhibits P/07 and P/08. Subsequently, search of the residential premises of the accused was carried out in accordance with law and in the presence of the aforesaid witnesses. During the course of search of the residential premises, in a newly constructed room situated on the upper floor of the house, one packet kept inside a nylon bag and another open packet were recovered. Upon inspection, the said packets were found to contain suspected narcotic substance (ganja). A small weighing scale and a coin were also recovered from the said place, indicating use for weighing the contraband substance. The search and seizure proceedings were conducted in the presence of independent witnesses, and a detailed search-cum-seizure panchnama was prepared on the spot, which is marked as Exhibit P/09. Thereafter, a detailed recovery panchnama was prepared on the spot, which is marked as Exhibit P/10. During the search, from a packet kept inside a nylon bag, 01 kilogram and 300 grams of suspected na