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The Division Bench of Justice Joymala Bagchi and Justice Suvra Ghosh upheld the conviction of the appellants for offences committed permissible under Section 21(c) read with Section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
The prosecution case is based on the recovery of narcotic substances at two places. The first was a capture of 3.5 kgs of heroin from the first appellant and then a 50 kgs of heroin which was salvaged from a rented house occupied by the second appellant. The court sentenced the first appellant to death and the second person was given a strict sentence of 30 years of rigorous imprisonment and a monetary fine of Rs. 3 lakhs. Aggrieved, the appellants filed for instant revision.
The counsel for the appellants argued that the amount of heroin, i.e. 3.5 kgs confiscated on the first appellant was vitiated by law as it is not in accordance of Section 50 of the aforementioned Act. The appellants also denied giving statements under Section 67 of the NDPS Act during their interrogation under Section 313 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The prosecution relied on the case of Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab 1980 2 SCC 684 and prayed for the awarding of death penalty to the first appellant as he had been convicted of the possession of narcotic substance above the commercially permissible limit for two times now. The prosecution also argued that the Sec 50 of the Act did not apply as the seizure had been made under Sec 43 of the Act.
The Court after observing stated that Section 31 of the NDPS Act provided that death penalty was to be given to deter people from committing the same offence again. It changed the sentence of a death penalty to a sentence of 33 years of rigorous imprisonment and 3 lakhs fine. The sentence for the second appellant was upheld. Hence the appeal was allowed with the said modification.
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