J&K man caught with habit-forming drugs in Mohali to spend 10 years in jail

Raes Ahmad Bhatt, hailing from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir, was found guilty under Section 22 (c) (where the contravention involves commercial quantity) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act

Nearly five years after a Jammu and Kashmir native was caught with habit-forming drugs without a permit in Mohali, a local court has awarded him 10 years in jail, while also imposing a fine of ₹1 lakh.

A police team present near Chatt light point had spotted Bhatt carrying a polythene while cycling on December 7, 2018. On noticing the police team, he ran towards the fields after leaving his cycle, but was apprehended by cops. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Raes Ahmad Bhatt, hailing from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir, was found guilty under Section 22 (c) (where the contravention involves commercial quantity) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

“The court is very much cognisant of the fundamental fact that the narcotic drug falling in commercial quantity was recovered from the conscious possession of convict Raes Ahmad Bhatt,” said the court of additional district and sessions judge Harsimranjit Singh while convicting Bhatt on Tuesday.

A police team present near Chatt light point had spotted Bhatt carrying a polythene while cycling on December 7, 2018. On noticing the police team, he ran towards the fields after leaving his cycle, but was apprehended by cops.

On frisking him, police had recovered 114 strips of Tramadol Hydrochloride capsules (each containing 24 capsules), 300 bottles of 100 ml cough syrups and 90 loose tablets without any licence or permit. A case under the NDPS Act was subsequently registered at the Zirakpur police station.

“Since the drug menace is widespread in the state, has assumed alarming proportion and has literally consumed thousands of innocent families with unsparing malevolence, most stringent sentence is warranted, so as to instil fear in such drug peddlers, who, blinded by gross lust for money and easy riches, play with precious lives of gullible youth and nibble at the foundations of our country,” argued the public prosecutor while seeking stringent punishment for Bhatt.

Bhatt, however, prayed for a lenient view, pleading that he was poor and had a family to take care of.

“Intoxicating liquid and capsules from possession of the accused fall within commercial quantity. As evident as it can be, the accused has failed to explain as to how he came to possess commercial quantity of above said psychotropic substance, especially when he had no permit or licence to possess, store, transport or deal with the same,” ruled the court while handing Bhatt a 10-year jail sentence.