The judgment underscores the significance of procedural compliance in handling case property and the burden of proof on the prosecution to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases.

JUDGMENT :

Rajiv Sharma, J.

This appeal is instituted at the instance of the State against the judgment dated 6.3.2010, rendered by the learned Special Judge, Solan, H.P., in Sessions case No. 6-S/7 of 2008, whereby the respondent-accused (hereinafter referred to as the accused), who was charged with and tried for offence punishable under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the ND & PS Act), has been acquitted.

2. The case of the prosecution, in a nut shell, is that on 18.3.2008, ASI Des Raj, Police Station, Dharampur alongwith HC Hakam Singh, HHG Bhupinder Singh and HHG Sunder Lal had laid Naka in front of the gate of Police Station for routine traffic checking. At about 5:30 PM, a bus bearing No. CH 01-G-8817 of CTU Chandigarh bound for Chandigarh from Shimla arrived. It was stopped for checking. During the course of checking a blue coloured bag having a sticker of 'FITNESS’ was found on the rack of seat No. 44. On enquiry, person sitting on seat No. 46 disclosed his identity as Rajinder Singh. He was going to Kalka. The police on suspicion got down from the bus the conductor, driver and accused alongwith the bag. On checking the bag, a polythene envelope having imprint Graviera Suiting Chawla Traders in which a black pants, a grey colored T-shirt and copy of Jamabandi was recovered. In another polythene envelope having an imprint of Ambassador Suiting, charas in the shape of wicks kept in a white polythene envelope was found. It weighed 500 grams. Two samples of 25 grams each were taken out of the bulk charas which were sealed with seal bearing impression “N” in a cloth parcel and marked as S-1 and S-2. The remaining charas was sealed in a separate cloth parcel with the same seal. It was marked as R-1. The I.O. filled in the NCB form in triplicate. The samples S-1, S-2 and parcel R-1 were taken into possession and seal after use was handed over to Conductor Ashwani Kumar. The I.O. sent Rukka to the Police station, upon which, FIR was registered at PS Dharampur. The case property was produced before the SHO. He resealed the same and deposited with MHC. One of the sample was sent to FSL Junga. The investigation was completed and the challan was put up after completing all the codal formalities.

3. The prosecution, in order to prove its case, has examined as many as 10 witnesses. The accused was also examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. According to him, he was falsely implicated. The learned trial Court acquitted the accused, as noticed hereinabove. Hence, this appeal.

4. Mr. M.A.Khan, learned Addl. Advocate General for the State has vehemently argued that the prosecution has proved its case against the accused. On the other hand, Mr. G.S.Rathore, Advocate for the accused has supported the judgment of the learned trial Court dated 6.3.2010.

5. We have heard the learned counsel for both the sides and have also gone through the judgment and records of the case carefully.

6. PW-1 HC Hakam Singh testified that he alongwith ASI Des Raj, Police Station, Dharampur, HHG Bhupinder Singh and HHG Sunder Lal had laid Naka in front of the gate of Police Station for routine traffic checking. At about 5:30 PM, a bus bearing No. CH 01-G-8817 of CTU Chandigarh came from Shimla towards Chandigarh. It was stopped for checking. During the course of checking, a blue coloured bag was found on the rack of seat No. 44. It was having sticker. On enquiry, the person sitting on seat No. 46 disclosed his identity as Rajinder Singh. He was going to Kalka. The police on suspicion got down from the bus the conductor, driver and accused alongwith the bag. One polythene bag was found containing pants, T-shirt and jamabandi. In another polythene bag, charas in the form of sticks was found. He was sent to bring the scale and weights. It weighed 500 grams. Two samples of 25 grams each were taken out of t