Law: Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997

Section: 9(c)

Control of Narcotic Substances Act (XXV of 1997)--- ----S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotics---Appreciation of evidence---Sentence, reduction in---Prosecution case was that ten kilograms opium and ten kilograms charas were recovered from the truck driven by accused, which was to be delivered to the co-accused---Prosecution witnesses had constituted an uninterrupted chain of facts ranging from seizure to forensic analysis of the contraband---Witnesses were in comfortable unison on all the salient features regarding interception of the huge quantity of Chars and Opium as well as all the steps taken subsequently---Whole case property was sealed and sent to the Chemical Examiner, which was found being exercise more than sufficient to constitute forensic proof---At the time of arrest, accused was driving the truck from wherein he produced the two bags containing the contraband, therefore he was responsible for the said narcotics---Report of Chemical Examiner fully corroborated the evidence of both the witnesses, whose stand was in nexus with the Chemical Examiners Report---Trial Court had already acquitted the co-accused while extending benefit of doubt on the basis of same set of evidence through impugned ---Record showed that the accused was a first offender and did not have previous criminal record---Accused was the sole bread earner of a huge family and was of old age and his conduct in jail had also been satisfactory as per jail authorities--- Lesser punishment would be sufficient for a first-offender---Moreover, the accused appeared to be remorseful of his past and had shown willingness for improvement---Court at its discretion could divert from the norms and standards prescribed in terms of sentencing after assigning cogent reasons; hence, the sentences of the accused were reduced from twelve years and six month to one already undergone by him---Appeal was dismissed with said modification. 2019 SCMR 1122 and 2019 SCMR 1095 ref. Mushtaq Ahmed v. The State and another 2020 SCMR 474; Zahid and Riaz Ali v. The State 2020 SCMR 590; State through Deputy Director (Law), Regional Directorate, Anti-Narcotics Force v. Mujahid Naseem Lodhi PLD 2017 SC 671; Ghulam Murtaza…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492