{"id":151074,"date":"2017-08-22T17:26:08","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T11:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=151074"},"modified":"2018-07-10T10:50:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T05:20:57","slug":"absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Punjab and Haryana High Court:<\/strong> The appellant in the present case was convicted under S. 15 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and thus, appealed against the sentence before the High Court.<\/p>\n

The main contention of the petitioner was that the learned trial Court failed to appreciate this fact that recovery was affected from the appellant on a public passage but no independent witness was joined. On hearing the prayer of the appellant, Surendra Gupta, J. framed the issue in consideration that is, as to whether the testimony of official witnesses examined by the prosecution should be discarded only on the ground that it did not find independent corroboration.<\/p>\n

The Court to answer the question arising went on to observe that it was held by the Hon\u2019ble Supreme Court of India in Ajmer Singh<\/em> v. State of Haryana<\/em>, (2010) 3 SCC 746<\/a>; though in cases like the case in hand, independent evidence is required, but accused cannot be acquitted merely because no independent witness produced. In light of the precedents cited, the Court held that the trial court had committed no error in law in convicting the accused and acquittal could not be granted only because no independent witness was joined.<\/p>\n

The appellant also pleaded before the court that he was only 30 years old with no criminal antecedents and also, the sole bread earner of the family. Keeping in mind the circumstances, the Court decided to reduce the sentence from rigorous imprisonment of one year to rigorous imprisonment of 6 months. [Iqlakh Mohammad v. State of Haryana, 2017 SCC OnLine P&H 1880<\/a>, decided on 3-7-2017]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punjab and Haryana High Court: The appellant in the present case was convicted under S. 15 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[21624,21061,21634],"class_list":["post-151074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-highcourts","tag-ground-for-acquittal","tag-ndps-act","tag-testimony-of-official-witnesses"],"yoast_head":"\nAbsence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Punjab and Haryana High Court: The appellant in the present case was convicted under S. 15 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-22T11:56:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-10T05:20:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/panjab_and_hariyana_high_court.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Saba\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Saba\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/\",\"name\":\"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act | SCC Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-22T11:56:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-10T05:20:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8e76b10dfc9c0d576324bfdbb2c2785\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8e76b10dfc9c0d576324bfdbb2c2785\",\"name\":\"Saba\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a815285315cd85d8b3246c60ed8ed99825949c1b85b370c49212daa54ededa98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a815285315cd85d8b3246c60ed8ed99825949c1b85b370c49212daa54ededa98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Saba\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act | SCC Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act","og_description":"Punjab and Haryana High Court: The appellant in the present case was convicted under S. 15 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2017-08-22T11:56:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-10T05:20:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1330,"height":887,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/panjab_and_hariyana_high_court.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Saba","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Saba","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/","name":"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act | SCC Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-22T11:56:08+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-10T05:20:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8e76b10dfc9c0d576324bfdbb2c2785"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2017\/08\/22\/absence-of-independent-witness-cannot-be-the-ground-for-acquittal-of-accused-under-ndps-act\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Absence of independent witness cannot be the ground for acquittal of accused under NDPS Act"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8e76b10dfc9c0d576324bfdbb2c2785","name":"Saba","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a815285315cd85d8b3246c60ed8ed99825949c1b85b370c49212daa54ededa98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a815285315cd85d8b3246c60ed8ed99825949c1b85b370c49212daa54ededa98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Saba"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_2\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":235120,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/08\/31\/accused-under-ndps-act-not-entitled-to-acquittal-as-a-blanket-rule-merely-because-the-complainant-is-the-investigating-officer-5-judge-bench\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":0},"title":"Accused under NDPS Act not entitled to acquittal as a blanket rule merely because the complainant is the investigating officer: 5-Judge Bench","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"August 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: The 5-judge Constitution bench of Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah and S. Ravindra Bhat, JJ has held that the accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) is not entitled to an acquittal as a blanket rule merely because the complainant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":277460,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/11\/14\/delhi-high-court-set-aside-conviction-on-non-compliance-of-mandatory-condition-u-s-50-of-ndps-act-of-informing-accused-of-his-personal-search-in-presence-of-gazetted-officer-magistrate\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":1},"title":"Delhi High Court set aside conviction on non-compliance of mandatory condition u\/S. 50 of NDPS Act of informing accused of his personal search in presence of Gazetted Officer\/Magistrate","author":"Editor","date":"November 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Delhi High Court: While deciding the instant appeal directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by Special Court (NDPS) District Central, the Single Judge Bench of Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, J. held that there was non-compliance of the provisions of Section 50 of the Narcotic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Delhi High Court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/delhi_high_court-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/delhi_high_court-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/delhi_high_court-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/delhi_high_court-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/delhi_high_court-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":205085,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2018\/11\/14\/compliance-of-section-50-ndps-act-mandatory-plea-that-accused-waved-off-right-by-consenting-to-search-by-raiding-party-not-sustainable-del-hc\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":2},"title":"Compliance of Section 50 NDPS Act mandatory; plea that accused waived off right by consenting to search by raiding party not sustainable: Del HC","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"November 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Delhi High Court:\u00a0A Single Judge Bench comprising of C. Hari Shankar, J. allowed a criminal appeal filed against the judgment of the trial court whereby the appellant was convicted under Section 18(b) of the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The appellant challenged his conviction contending the non-compliance of provisions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49951,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2016\/06\/01\/court-may-act-on-the-testimony-of-a-single-witness-provided-he-is-wholly-reliable\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":3},"title":"Court may act on the testimony of a single witness provided he is wholly reliable","author":"Sucheta","date":"June 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Delhi High Court: Deciding an appeal filed by the State against acquittal of the accused for an offence under Section 354 of the Penal Code, the Bench of Sunita Gupta, J., reversed the acquittal and held that there is no legal impediment in convicting a person on the sole testimony\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40891,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2016\/03\/31\/no-presumption-exists-for-police-officers-to-be-liars\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":4},"title":"No presumption exists for Police Officers to be Liars","author":"Sucheta","date":"March 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Delhi High Court: In the conjoint appeals concerning the seizure of large quantity of charas from the two appellants in a raid conducted by the Delhi Police, a Single Bench of Gupta J. made a slew of observations while dismissing both the appeals and upholding the judgment of the Trial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":223588,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2019\/12\/25\/cal-hc-death-sentence-may-or-may-not-deter-others-balance-sheet-of-aggravating-and-mitigating-circumstances-must-be-made-before-its-imposition\/","url_meta":{"origin":151074,"position":5},"title":"Cal HC | \u2018Death sentence\u2019 may or may not deter others; balance sheet of aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be made before its imposition","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"December 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Calcutta High Court: A Division Bench of Joymalya Bagchi and Suvra Ghosh, JJ. upheld the conviction of the appellants for the commission of the offence punishable under Section 21(c) read with Section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The prosecution case is based on the recovery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/calcutta-court.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/calcutta-court.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/calcutta-court.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/calcutta-court.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/calcutta-court.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}