Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 12: Principal Sessions Judge Udhampur, A K Koul has acquitted Parbhat Singh, son of Bayant Singh of Lalli, Udhampur, who was facing trial in NDPSA case for the last seven years.
According to the police case, on February 2, 2006 a police party headed by SHO Police Station Udhampur intercepted Parbhat Singh near M H Morh and subjected him to checking. From his possession, police recovered 650 grams of charas in the form of tablets. The narcotics was immediately seized and accused arrested under Section 8/20 NDPS Act. After completion of investigation challan was presented in the court of law.
After hearing both the sides, Principal Sessions Judge Udhampur observed, “there is nothing on record to show that officer incharge of police station has put his seal on the packet which was kept in Malkhana of the police station although it was an important obligation in terms of Section 55 of the NDPS Act”, adding “though the requirement contained in Section 55 of NDPS Act is directory but there should have been some justification in not observing the requirement”.
“Mulakh Raj, incharge Malkhana stated that nobody signed the packet or affixed the seal on it in his presence. There should be some reason spelt out by anyone to justify the breach of the requirement of Section 55 of NDPS Act”, the Court said, adding “though this by itself could not be termed as a serious flaw in the case but when read in conjunction with other issues it assumes importance and makes the investigation shoddy”.
The Court further said, “in criminal jurisprudence evidence has to be evaluated on the touchstone of consistency. Consistency is the key word for upholding the conviction of an accused. In a criminal trial evidence of eye witnesses requires careful assessment and must be evaluated for its credibility. Since the fundamental aspect of the criminal jurisprudence rests upon the stated principle that no man is guilty until proven so, utmost caution is required to be exercised in dealing with situations where there are multiple testimonies and equally large number of witnesses testifying before the court”.
“There must be a string that should join the evidence of all witnesses thereby satisfying the test of consistency in evidence amongst all the witnesses. What is discernable from the facts and evidence on record in this case is that the investigation has been conducted in a perfunctory manner with a scant regard to the established principles of law. Each and every lapse has to be explained by prosecution before claiming a conviction in a case but in this case it appears that investigating agency has failed to do what was required of it”, Principal Sessions Judge said, adding “convictions cannot be awarded on the doubtful testimonies of witnesses and serious lapses on the part of the investigating agency”.
With these observations, the Court acquitted the accused of the charges.
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