Young Man Is Sole Breadwinner Of Family: Punjab & Haryana High Court Reduces Sentence Of 27 Years Old Man In NDPS Case

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has reduced the sentence of an accused in an NDPS case who was found in conscious possession of 115 loose intoxicating tablets, stating that he is a young man aged about 27 years and is the sole breadwinner of the family.

The Court was considering an Appeal filed against the judgment and order passed by the Special Court whereby the Appellant was held guilty for the commission of the offence punishable under Section 22(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).

The bench of Justice N.S. Shekhawat observed, "........the appellant is facing the prosecution for the last more than 04 years. Even, he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 06 months and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- by the trial Court. Today, the custody certificate has been filed in the Court by the learned State counsel and as per the custody certificate, he has undergone the sentence of 02 months out of total sentence of 06 months. The appellant is a young man aged about 27 years and is sole bread winner of the family. Apart from that, he was never involved in any other criminal activity and as per the evidence led before the trial Court, prior to the present FIR, he was staying abroad to earn his livelihood. Consequently, taking in view the aforesaid circumstances, the sentence imposed on the present appellant is reduced to the period already undergone by him."

The Appellant was represented by Advocate Vipin Mahajan.

Facts of the Case

The Appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, along with the default stipulation.

As per the case of the prosecution, the Appellant was nabbed with contraband and was carrying the tablets, without any permit or license. In the FSL report, it was found that the tablets contain Alprazolam salt and the quantity of the tablets was found to be intermediate quantity, as per the schedule appended to the NDPS Act.

After the presentation of the challan, charge under Section 22(b) of the NDPS Act was framed against the Appellant was convicted after trial.

Reasoning Of Court

The Court upheld the conviction of the appellant under Section 22(b) of the NDPS Act after noting that due process under the NDPS Act was followed.

"......from a perusal of the prosecution evidence, it was apparent that all the mandatory provisions of NDPS Act were complied by the police officials while conducting the search and seizure in the present case. Even otherwise, this Court has carefully perused the evidence led by the prosecution and found the same to be credible and trustworthy. Even, the prosecution witnesses have been cross-examined at length and there is no ground to disbelieve their truthful submissions. Still further, even, learned counsel for the appellant could not show that there was any material irregularity or illegality in the impugned judgment," the Court observed.

However, it went on to reduce the sentence, stressing that the Appellant is a young man of 27 years and is the sole breadwinner of the family with no criminal background. The sentence of fine, though, was increased to Rs.1,05,000/-.

The Appeal was accordingly allowed.

Cause Title: Gurjant Singh vs. State of Punajb (2025:PHHC:045592)

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