Virender Singh, J.

1. To begin with we may mention that in the paper-book, the title of the present appeal is wrongly shown as Gurinder Singh v. State of Punjab, whereas the respondent is to be described as Union Territory, Chandigarh. Therefore, the present appeal shall now be captioned as "Gurinder Singh v. Union Territory, Chandigarh."

2. Appellant Gurinder Singh son of Avtar Singh, resident of village Bagha Kalan, District Amritsar along with his co-accused Sunil Kumar son of Mohan Lal Sharma, resident of Amritsar was booked in a case bearing FIR No. 177, dated 8.8.1997, registered at police station Sector 39 Chandigarh under Section 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (in short "the Act") for allegedly carrying 9 Kgs. and 165 Grams of heroin (smack) on 8.8.1997 in a Maruti Van bearing registration No. PB-02-3968.

3. Both the accused were of the age of about 20 years at the time of alleged recovery and were students. Sunil Kumar died during trial and as such the proceedings qua him were dropped and appellant stands convicted for the said charge vide impugned judgment dated 11.8.2000 of learned Judge, Special Court, Chandigarh. He has been sentenced