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Issues: (i) Whether the recovery of heroin from the appellant was proved beyond reasonable doubt despite minor discrepancies in timings and objections to the panch witnesses and seizure process. (ii) Whether the appellant could claim the benefit of possession for personal consumption and avoid conviction under the NDPS Act. (iii) Whether the police officer who effected the search and seizure was duly empowered to act in a public place under the NDPS Act.
Issue (i): Whether the recovery of heroin from the appellant was proved beyond reasonable doubt despite minor discrepancies in timings and objections to the panch witnesses and seizure process.
Analysis: The oral evidence of the seizing police officer, the panch witness and the investigating officer was found mutually corroborative. The Court treated the variations in the stated timings as insignificant and not affecting the core prosecution version. The objection that the panch witness was a professional panch was rejected because no effective cross-examination was directed to discredit his presence or independence, and the seizure memo and chemical analysis report supported the recovery and identification of the seized substance as heroin.
Conclusion: The recovery and seizure were proved beyond reasonable doubt and the evidentiary objections failed.
Issue (ii): Whether the appellant could claim the benefit of possession for personal consumption and avoid conviction under the NDPS Act.
Analysis: The Court held that the defence had never been that the substance was carried for personal consumption. In the absence of such a plea and proof, the mere small monetary value of the seized substance did not attract the lesser treatment claimed by the appellant. Four packets found in the shirt pocket were treated as consistent with possession for sale or other prohibited use, and the statutory punishment for contravention in relation to manufactured drugs applied.
Conclusion: The appellant was not entitled to the benefit claimed for personal consumption and conviction under the NDPS Act was upheld.
Issue (iii): Whether the police officer who effected the search and seizure was duly empowered to act in a public place under the NDPS Act.
Analysis: The Court relied on the Government notification empowering police officers of and above the rank of Head Constable for purposes of section 42 of the NDPS Act. It held that section 43 authorised seizure and search in a public place by such empowered officer, and therefore the presence of the Head Constable in the patrolling party satisfied the statutory requirement.
Conclusion: The search and seizure were carried out by an empowered officer and were valid.
Final Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were affirmed, with the legal position clarified that the offence was under section 21 read with section 8(c) of the NDPS Act rather than the section mentioned by the trial court.
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