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Chandigarh: UP man gets 10-year rigorous imprisonment in NDPS case
The Chandigarh court said leniency may set a wrong precedent for the society; has also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on convict, who was found with 140 banned injections
Stating that leniency may set a wrong precedent for the society by encouraging propagation of delivery and possession of psychotropic substances, judge Rajeev K Beri, special court, Chandigarh, awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to a 27-year-old man from Uttar Pardesh in an NDPS case.
The court has also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on convict Shivam Yadav, a resident of Dheerpur Patti village.
As per the prosecution, on October 5, 2018, a police team was on a patrolling duty to check snatching instances. They had stopped their vehicle near Citco petrol pump in Sector 56 and started patrolling on foot towards Ziri Mandi chowk.
As they reached near a park in Sector 56, they found a man coming from the opposite side with a white-coloured carry bag in his hand. On seeing the police, he stopped, turned and started moving away at a fast pace.
“The cops stopped him and found 70 injections of buprenorphine (2ml each) and 70 injections of pheniramine maleate (10ml each). All these injections had batch number and date smeared with black marker. The accused failed to produce any permit or licence to possess these injections,” the prosecution added.
The defence counsel stated that accused was an addict and had a single injection of buprenorphine on him. The other injections were planted after he was taken away from his house, it was argued.
The court held Yadav guilty of violating Section 22 (c) of the NDPS Act and awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of ₹1 lakh.
The judge observed, “The nature of offence and recovery of commercial quantity of 70 injections of buprenorphine each having 138.42 grams of contraband from conscious possession of this convict does not leave any reason with the court to treat him 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.”
Mohali person held guilty
In another case, a special court held Sanjeev Kumar, 30, a resident of Mohali’s Tonga village, guilty in a similar matter.
As per the prosecution, a case under Section 22 of the NDPS Act was registered against him after the police found eight injections of buprenorphine (2ml) each and as many injections of pheniramine maleate (10ml each).
The defence counsel said he was falsely implicated in this case after being picked up from a market and was forced to admit that the contraband belonged to him.
In its order dated January 11, the court of Rajneesh, judge, special court, had held him guilty.
