P&H HC Upholds 10kg Poppy Husk Conviction, Cuts Sentence To 6 Months 20 Days After 23-Year Case

On 23.07.2003, police stopped a scooter driven by the appellant and recovered 10 kg of poppy husk from a plastic bag on the scooter.

An FIR was registered under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (“NDPS Act”), and the trial court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to two years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹20,000, with three months’ further rigorous imprisonment in default.

On appeal, the appellant did not press a challenge to his conviction and sought reduction of sentence, relying on the non-commercial quantity, the time elapsed, his prior record, and the 6 months and 20 days he had already served.

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

It proceeded on the basis that the recovered quantity was non-commercial and that no minimum sentence had been prescribed for the offence in the circumstances before it.

In considering sentence, the court assessed the individual circumstances identified in the judgment, including the time elapsed since the offence, the period already served, the appellant’s age, and his record since the offence.

No precedent was cited.

Although the appellant confined his appeal to sentence, the court reviewed the trial record and found the prosecution evidence consistent and sufficient to sustain the conviction; it therefore found no basis to interfere with that finding.

On sentence, the court considered that the quantity was non-commercial, the offence had occurred about 23 years earlier, the appellant had served 6 months and 20 days, and he had no other prosecution or offence recorded during the intervening period.

It concluded that, in light of these circumstances, the sentence imposed was harsh and that the period already undergone was adequate.

The appeal was partly allowed.

Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, were disposed of accordingly.