Total Pageviews

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Merely sitting on bags of poppy husk would not amount to conscious possession

2010(1) LAW HERALD (P&H) 230 (DB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
(DIVISION BENCH)
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mehtab S.Gill
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ram Chand Gupta
Criminal Appeal No.285-DB of 2001
Amrik Singh
v.
State of Punjab
{Decided on 22/10/2009}
For the Appellant: Mr. A.P.S.S. Deol, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Manpreet Kaur, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Ms. Gurvin Kaur, Additional A.G. Punjab.
IMPORTANT POINT
Contraband--Conscious possession--Acquittal--Merely sitting on bags of poppy husk would not amount to conscious possession if residence or place from where recovery is made is not in ownership of accused.
(A) Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, S.15 & 42(d)--Recovery of contraband--Search and seizure--Acquittal--Recovery of contraband on receiving secret information--Raid conducted in brick kiln at night time--Though there was no need for Officer to obtain search warrant but it was incumbent upon him to put this belief as to why he cannot obtain warrant in writing--There is no document on record regarding compliance of Section 42(d) of the Act--D.S.P. (Gazetted Officer) did not put his seal on alleged contraband seized--Log Book of his official jeep shows that he did not go to place of occurrence and all paper work was done in his office--Sole independent witness declared hostile--Special report not sent to superior officer--Appellant acquitted. (P.12, 15, 16 & 17)
(B) Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, S.15--Recovery of contraband--Conscious possession--Acquittal--Merely sitting on bags of poppy husk would not amount to conscious possession if residence or place from where recovery is made is not in ownership of accused--Appellant acquitted. (P.13)