Published on:18 July 2023 at 13:30 IST
Court: High Court of Punjab and Haryana
Citation: Mukesh Pal v. State of Haryana (2022)
Hon’ble High Court of of Punjab and Haryana has held that the Forensic Lab Report is a Sine Qua Non of the Charge Sheet under the provision of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. It is specifically submitted that the Hon’ble High Court has held that the in the absence of the Forensic Lab Report, the said Charge Sheet is incomplete, and the Accused is deserving the liberty of Default Bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
9. It is no doubt correct that Hon’ble the Supreme Court and also a full Bench of this Court have held that a challan even if not accompanied by a report of the Chemical Examiner or of the expert cannot be said to be incomplete. However, it needs to be highlighted that the said cases did not pertain to an offence under the NDPS Act.
A case under the NDPS Act can only survive in case the prosecution is able to establish that the article recovered is indeed a contraband and which can only be established on the basis of its chemical examination, which is normally got done through FSL established by the Government. In other words, the report of the FSL forms the foundation of the case of prosecution and in case the same is not there the entire case of prosecution falls to ground.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
