Man sentenced to 10-year jail for carrying medicines sans licence in Chandigarh

Prosecution said the Chandigarh Police recovered drugs of commercial quantity from the accused and hence stringent punishment must be awarded.

A special NDPS court has awarded 10-year jail, along with ₹1 lakh fine, to an Uttarakhand resident for possessing medicines without a licence.

The accused was nabbed with the medicines near Chandigarh’s Shivalik Park in 2018. (HT File)

The case dates back to 2018. The convict, Jagat Singh, 46, hails from Tatar village in Almora district, Uttarakhand. On October 10, 2018, a case was registered against the accused under Section 22 of the NDPS Act at Manimajra police station.

As per FIR, to keep a check on increasing snatching incidents, police had done barricading near Shivalik Park of Manimajra. At around 1.40 pm, they caught a man on suspicion as after spotting the police he started moving in opposite direction. A total of 160 capsules of Dicyclomine HCL, Tramadol HCL, Acetaminophen capsules (20 strips) and 10 bottles (100 ml each) of Codeine Phosphate 8 Triprolidine Hydrochloride syrup (Elturex-T) was recovered from his possession. After he was unable produce any licence or permit, he was booked by the police.

In court, he pleaded that he was innocent and was being falsely implicated by police. The public prosecutor, Sunil Dutt, argued that police had recovered drugs of commercial quantity from him and hence stringent punishment must be awarded.

Hearing both sides, the court convicted Jagat and awarded 10 years of RI under Section 22 of the NDPS Act.