Law: Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997

Section: XXV,9(c),29

Control of Narcotic Substances Act (XXV of 1997)-------S. 9(c)---Possession of narcotic substance---Appreciation of evidence--Prosecution case was that 21025-grams charas was recovered from the vehicle driven by the accused---In narcotics cases, it was essential to prove the charge of possession of narcotics recovered from the accused while strictly adhering to the requirement that the contraband was searched and seized by an officer of at least the rank of Sub-Inspector---Additionally, samples from each packet must be collected and sent for chemical analysis, and those samples should be forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory within 72 hours of the seizure--Moreover, ensuring the proper handling and safe transmission of the samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory was also critical---In the present case, all of the said legal requirements had been properly adhered to---Under S.29, Control of Narcotic Substances Act, a presumption was attached in trials regarding the possession of illicit articles of which he failed to account satisfactorily, unless and until the contrary was proved by the appellant---Said burden was also not contradicted or disproven by the appellant/convict, who failed to explain his possession of such a large quantity of narcotic or his presence at the scene---On perusal of the Forensic Science Laboratory Reports, it revealed that, one of the reports mentioned the name of Head Constable as the person who deposited the sample and according to the prosecution story and the evidence produced Police Constable took all the 20 sealed sample parcels to the laboratory, but the reports mentioned the name of Police Constable as the depositor, which discrepancy would definitely benefit the appellant/convict as it could not be termed as a clerical mistake for the reason that on all three reports, the name of Police Constable was mentioned and not Head Constable---In that scenario, the prosecution had proved only five sample parcels which were sent by Head Constable to the Forensic Science Laboratory and the reports confirmed that they were tested positive for Charas Garda---According to Control of Narcotic Substances Act, before the amendment,…