After 23 Years, P&H HC Cuts 8-Year NDPS Sentence To Time Served, Citing Non-Commercial Quantity And First Offence

On 19 July 2003, police recovered 40 kg and 200 g of poppy straw from Sardool Singh and registered an FIR under Sections 15/16 of the NDPS Act.

The trial court convicted him under Section 15 and sentenced him to eight years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹80,000, with a further term of one and a half years’ imprisonment in default of payment.

On appeal, Singh did not press his challenge to the conviction and sought reduction of sentence, relying on the time elapsed, his personal circumstances, and the seven months and one day he had served. The State opposed sentence reduction.

The court applied Section 15 of the NDPS Act, under which the appellant had been convicted.

In considering sentence, it treated the quantity as non-commercial and noted that no minimum sentence had been prescribed for the offence in the circumstances identified by the court.

It also considered the appellate court’s jurisdiction to modify sentence and the case-specific factors relevant to whether the sentence was proportionate.

No precedent was cited.

The court found the prosecution evidence consistent and sufficient to sustain the conviction, and saw no basis to interfere with the trial court’s finding of guilt.

On sentence, it considered that the appellant had served seven months and one day, the offence was his first, he had not been prosecuted for another offence during the ensuing period, he was over 65 years old, and more than 23 years had passed since the incident and during the litigation. Taking those factors together, the court found the eight-year term harsh and the time already served sufficient to meet the ends of justice.

The appeal was partly allowed. Any pending miscellaneous applications were disposed of accordingly.