Aastha Thakur
Published on: 21 December 2022 at 16:33 IST
According to the Karnataka High Court, the seized illegal marijuana cannot be split up by removing the seeds and leaves before determining its weight.
The single-bench Justice K Natarajan refused to quash the criminal proceedings against a petitioner who was arrested in 2019.
The petitioner, 73, resident of Kashettihalli village, Channagiri taluk of Devangere district, and another were arrested and the police authorities seized 750 grams of ganja from their possession.
It was submitted by the petitioner that the seized material is only leaves and seeds, the raw material weighs around 750 grams. This quantity seized cannot be termed under the definition of Section 2(iii)(b) of the NDPS Act.
The government advocate contended that the ganja contains leaves, fruiting tops, seeds, stems and it cannot be bifurcated at the time of seizure.
Justice K Natarajan has held that, “If we read the definition (Section 2(iii)(b) of NDPS Act) ganja which excludes the seeds and leaves, contains flowering or fruiting tops of cannabis plants. The seizure panchanama reveals that the bag in possession of the petitioner looked like a leaf, but it contained the flower, fruiting top, leaves and seeds.”
“Therefore, the material seized contains flowering and fruiting tops accompanying the seeds and leaves which amounts to Ganja i.e., the leaves and seed accompanied with flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant,”
The court said that the FSL report submitted states that the results of the chemical analysis were positive for ganja, hence the petitioner’s argument could not be used as a justification to quash the criminal proceedings.
The court while concluding said that, “Even for the purpose of considering the bail application, if the commercial quantity of ganja is seized, the accused cannot plead to bring under the medium quantity claiming that it is not a commercial quantity by excluding the seeds and leaves as per the judgment of the Supreme Court in of Hira Singh’s case,”