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Chandigarh court awards 12-year jail to woman caught with drugs
According to the prosecution, a team of the crime branch on patrol duty had apprehended the woman with restricted drugs near Sector 39, Chandigarh, in 2019
A 20-year-old woman arrested with restricted drugs in 2019 was sentenced to 12-year imprisonment by a Chandigarh court on Tuesday.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹1.2 lakh on the convict, identified as Arshdeep Kaur of Badheri village in Sector 41. She will have to undergo an additional six-month jail term is she fails to pay the fine.
According to the prosecution, a team of the crime branch on patrol duty near Sector 39 had apprehended Kaur on the afternoon of July 10, 2019.
As many as 50 vials of buprenorphine and pheniramine maleate were recovered from her. Both drugs are addictive in nature and taking them without prescription can be dangerous.
The batch numbers on the vials were smeared with black ink and hence were not legible. A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered at the police station in Sector 39.
“The nature of offence and heavy recovery, which is commercial in nature, do not leave any reason with the court to treat convict with leniency, lest it may give wrong signal to the society, thereby encouraging propagation of delivery and possession of such psychotropic substances, which are hazardous, damaging and are potential reason for spoiling of youth,” ruled the court of additional district and sessions judge Rajeev K Beri.
False implication plea fails to hold water
Kaur, who claimed to be a Class-11 student, had claimed false implication in the case. She told court that her mother was annoyed with her and had requested police to take some steps to make her mend her ways.
She alleged that police had picked her up from a house in Sector 40 and the drugs had been planted.
The court dismissed her submissions, stating: “The suggestion remained lame and unsubstantiated one. No ground is made out to believe such unproved suggestion.”
