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Mumbai HC rejects faulty trial, orders release of the accused

Pukhrambham Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment for possession of heroin

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A substance wrongly identified by the police and a trial conducted on the basis of that has earned Pukhrambham Singh, 40, his freedom after spending seven years in prison.

Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Thane sessions court for possessing 636 grams of heroin.

However, it turned out in his appeal before the Bombay High Court, that although he was found with heroin, he was punished for possessing cocaine, a psychotropic substance.
Singh who came to Thane from Manipur was arrested by the Thane police crime branch on December 13, 2001. He has been in custody ever since. The police said they received a tip-off that Singh was carrying cocaine. Singh was booked under sections 20 and 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. After a trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs2 lakh on December 30, 2002.
Arguing for Singh in the HC, his advocate Ayaz Khan said that section 20 of the NDPS Act refers to cannabis (hashish or Charas) while section 20 refers to psychotropic substances. But a chemical analysis report presented by the prosecution indicates that the substance recovered from Singh was heroin, a narcotic drug, which is not covered in both the sections.

Under NDPS Act, punishment for possession of a commercial quantities of a drug differs from substance to substance. While cocaine attracts a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, for heroin, it is 20 years.
Justice VK Tahilramani said that it is a “basic” while framing charge that all the laws allegedly violated by the accused be clearly spelt out to give him a fair chance to defend himself and avoid an adverse verdict. She also observed that court also could have altered or modified the charge against the accused; however, in this case it was not done.

Tahilramani, hence, inferred, “The wrong charge has been framed against the appellant (Singh) who has also been convicted under the wrong sections. Such a conviction cannot be allowed to stand.” The court has ordered Singh’s release from prison unless he was required in any other case.

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