Compliance with mandatory provisions of the NDPS Act, sufficiency of evidence, and the principle of non-interference with an order of acquittal if the findings of the trial court are reasonable and not manifestly erroneous.

JUDGMENT :

Tashi Rabstan, J.

1. By way of this condonation application, the appellant is seeking to condone the delay of 113 days in filing the above titled Criminal Acquittal Appeal against the judgment dated 20.04.2016 delivered by the learned 1st Additional Sessions Court, Jammu (Special Court Under NDPS Act), whereby the prosecution case against the accused No. 1 Balwant Raj and the accused No. 3 Paramjeet Singh, due to their death during trial was abated and the accused Nos. 2 Tarsem Raj and 4 Uttam Singh were acquitted of the charge. Along with the application for condonation of delay, the appellant has also filed SLA No. 133/2016 seeking leave of the Court to file the appeal.

2. Prosecution case in brief as emerging out from the perusal of the record is that on 17.10.1995, SDPO Gandhi Nagar, Jammu sent a written dispatch from Peer Baba Bahu Rakh to the Police Station that on an information received on wireless from the In-charge Naka Party, HC Dharam Chand of Police Post Bagh-a-Bahu, who was deployed there along with constables Dwarka Dass and Tarsem Raj that one Balwant Raj alias Balwanta S/o Angrezoo Saryara R/o Kacha Talab Bahu Fort Jammu, had been apprehended, from whose possession two packets of opium had been recovered. He seized those packets and samples were drawn and sealed. Balwant Raj disclosed that he had purchased those opium packets from Tarsem Raj S/o Des Raj R/o Manda Jammu and Paramjeet Singh S/o Maan Singh R/o Gurha Bakshi Nagar, who had come to Bawa Basti Bahu Fort for the sale of the opium which was under their possession and punishable under sections 20 & 27 of NDPS Act were found to have been committed. The dispatch was sent for registration of the case and the investigation was assigned to SI Kamaljeet Singh. On receipt of this dispatch, a case was registered at P/S Bahu Fort Jammu vide FIR No. 253/1995 for the commission of offences punishable under sections 20/27 of NDPS Act.

3. Before dealing with the application for condonation of delay, we deem it appropriate to examine the judgment delivered by the learned 1st Additional Sessions Court, Jammu (Special Court Under NDPS Act) to find out as to whether or not any interference is warranted therewith, so that injustice may not occasion merely because of lapse on the part of the appellant-State in filing the appeal within the prescribed period of limitation.

4. The prosecution has examined as many as 18 witnesses. The Prosecution Witness Nos. 1 HC Dharam Chand, 2 Constable Tarsem Raj and 3 SGC Dwarka Dass were members of the Naka party deployed near Peer Baba Rakh Bahu from Police Post Bahu Fort on 17.10.1995 and they all had stated that accused No. 1 Balwant Raj was detained at Naka and opium was found in his possession, as such, In-charge Naka Party flashed a wireless message in this respect and that officer In-charge Police Post Bahu PW Kamaljeet Singh and SDPO Gandhi Nagar PW17 Hemant Kumar Lohia reached on spot after receiving massage and during search of the accused opium weighing 1.830 Kg was recovered from the detained Balwant Raj and that on his disclosure which was admittedly not recorded, accused no. 2 Tarsem Kumar and accused no. 3 Paramjeet Singh were arrested from Bagh-e-Bahu park on the same evening on his identification in presence of the prosecution witnesses 1 to 9 and 17 to 18. PW4 Ct. John Khunja, PW5 Ct. Thakur Dass and PW6 SGC Ahmed Din had accompanied PW18 SI Kamaljeet Singh, In-charge Police Post Bahu, whereas, PW7 Ct. Jameet Singh and PW9 Ct. Ashok Kumar had accompanied PW17 Hemant Kumar Lohia SDPO Gandhi Nagar and all of them stated that recoveries and seizures were made from accused Nos. 1 to 3 on the same evening in their presence and also at the instance of accused No. 4 Uttam Singh later on. PW12 M.K. Abrol stated that the seized Van had been seized by him as SHO, P/S Ramgarh on 19.10.1995 lying unclaimed vide seizure memo (EXPW-MK) and the same was further seized by Jammu police in this case on 20.10.1995. He, however, sta