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PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH
HARKESH MANUJA
Pritpal Singh – Appellant
Versus
State Of Punjab – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
Harkesh Manuja, J.
Present appeal has been preferred against the judgment dated 20.01.2024 passed by Judge Special Court, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, vide which appellant has been convicted u/s 21 of The Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances, Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act') and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment of 15 days.2. Brief facts of the case are that on 02.07.2019, main accused, Sunny, was arrested by Police during patrolling from whom recovery of 20 injections of Buprenorphine, 20 injections of Avil and 20g of Heroin was effected from him. On 03.07.2019, Sunny made a disclosure statement and named co-accused Paramjit Kaur followed by his another disclosure statement made on 04.07.2019, wherein he named the present appellant, Pritpal Singh and accordingly, on 06.07.2019, appellant was also nominated as accused. Appellant was arrested from Delhi Airport on 09.07.2019 and made a disclosure that 6/7 grams of Heroin was lying concealed in the motor-room of his fields and he can get the same recovered.
2.1 On 1
The court reaffirmed that in narcotic cases, the prosecution bears a heavy burden of proof, and any reasonable doubt resulting from discrepancies leads to acquittal.
Point of Law : In a case under the NDPS Act, reverse burden applies. Once the prosecution discharges its initial burden, it is for the accused to explain, though the standard of proof for both is dif....
The absence of independent witnesses does not invalidate the prosecution's case if police testimonies are credible, and Section 50 of the NDPS Act is not applicable when recovery is from a bag.
The High Court affirmed that, in chance recovery cases, compliance with Section 42 of the NDPS Act is not mandatory, reinforcing the credibility of police testimony despite the absence of independent....
NDPS conviction upheld in chance recovery despite hostile independent witness and minor official contradictions; non-association of independents not fatal; case property integrity via intact seals; S....
Point of Law : The purpose of Section 52-A is to provide a mechanism, whereby there is no misuse of the contraband recovered by the authorities and the same is kept in safe custody and/or destroyed w....
Mandatory compliance with Section 50 of NDPS Act is imperative in cases of search of the body of the accused, and failure to comply renders the recovery of contraband suspect and the conviction unsus....
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