The main legal point established in the judgment is the consideration of the capacity to pay the fine amount in relation to the default sentence under the N.D.P.S Act.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Criminal Appeal filed under Section 374(2) of Cr.P.C., r/w 36-B of N.D.P.S Act, 1985 to set aside the conviction of the appellant in C.C.No.8 of 2012, dated 04.05.2018, by the learned Special Judge, I Additional Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases under N.D.P.S Act, Chennai – 600 104, by allowing this appeal.)

This appeal is filed against the order of the I Additional Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases under N.D.P.S Act, Chennai, in and by which, the appellant is convicted for the offence under Section 8(c) read with Section 29(1), 8(c) r/w Section 21(c), 8(c) r/w Section 23(c) and Section 8(c) r/w Section 28 of the N.D.P.S Act to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- each in respect of the four counts and in default of payment of fine, to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for one year each.

2. A complaint was filed by the complainant on allegation that one Srinivasan Krishnasamy, Manager, M/s. Aramex India Pvt. Ltd., informed that one lady, namely Seiluti of Mizoram, came to their office for one international consignment having the consignor name as Ms.Seiluti, No.25, G.S.T. Road, Ambal Nagar, Chennai, which was destined for Josephine Albort, South Australia, which was declared to have contained sarees, dress materials, lady-s foot wear and one trolley bag weighing about 9.500 kgs and since they had reasonable suspicion about the contents of the consignment, requested to take necessary action. Based on the information, the officers of the N.C.B reached the said M/s. Aramex India Pvt. Ltd., and requested one S.Sathishkumar and said Srinivasan Krishnasamy to be the witnesses for such proceedings conducted by them and upon examination of the consignment, they found that in the empty trolley bag, there was a wooden plank and upon examination of the wooden plank, it was noticed that there are two separate layers of wood pasted together and on separation of the two wooden planks, it was found that three brown colour polythene packets were pasted in between the two wooden planks. When the said packets were examined, it was found that white crystal powder of similar in nature is there in all the three packets and upon examination, it answered positive for Cocaine and Methamphetamine, Narcotic drugs, covered under N.D.P.S Act, weighing 200 gms. Therefore, after competing further investigation, the complaint was filed. Upon the charges being framed, the appellant denied the charges and stood trial. The prosecution, thereafter, examined P.Ws.1 to 17 and marked Exs.P-1 to P-207 and also produced M.Os.1 to 42. Upon being questioned about the evidence on record and the incriminating circumstances, the appellant denied the same as false and thereafter, the Trial Court heard the learned Special Public Prosecutor and the learned Counsel for the appellant and upon appraisal of the entire evidence on record, found the appellant guilty as mentioned above and sentenced as aforesaid. Aggrieved by the same, the present Appeal is laid before this Court.

3. Heard Mr.M.S.Charles, learned Counsel for the appellant and Mr.N.P.Kumar, learned Special Public Prosecutor for the respondent.

4. When the matter came up for hearing, the learned Counsel for the appellant submitted that in this case, already, the appellant had undergone and completed the ten years Rigorous Imprisonment and is presently undergoing the default sentence for non-payment of fine and therefore, restricted his arguments only in respect of the default sentence alone. Even otherwise, on a perusal of the material records of this Case, this Court is of the view that the appellant has been rightly convicted by the Trial Court. The learned Counsel would submit that the appellant hails from North-East and has got no other person to help and she is absolutely in penury and is in jail for more than 10 years and therefore, she has absolutely no way, whatsoever, to pay the amount of Rs.4,00,000/- and therefore, imposition