Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 7: The court of Special Judge (NDPS) Srinagar acquitted two persons from the charges of drug trafficking and directed their release from jail citing the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the case.
The presiding officer of the court Vinod Kumar acquitted the accused persons, Mohammad Ashraf Burza of Safakadal, Srinagar and Mohammad Imran Khan of Sunnar Khul, Safakadal, Srinagar from the charge under Section 8 read with Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
The court said they are acquitted from the offences by extending to them the full benefit of doubt as the prosecution has wholly failed to discharge the burden of proving the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
The court said that the principle that suspicion, however strong, cannot take the place of proof beyond reasonable doubt, is a constitutional imperative. The accused persons stand before this Court entitled to the full protection of the law. The prosecution has failed to discharge the heavy burden that the law places upon it. The accused persons are entitled to the benefit of doubt.
“In the instant case, the investigation is so fundamentally defective that this Court cannot bridge the gaps by conjecture or by placing undue reliance on the testimony of interested police witnesses whose accounts are themselves replete with contradictions”, the court observed.
The accused persons are, as per information available, in custody. The court directed to release them forthwith unless they are wanted in connection with any other case. The Court directed to ensure prompt communication of this order to the Superintendent of the concerned jail.
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