Tanisha Rana
Published on: September 26, 2022 at 20:05 IST
The Punjab & Haryana High Court recently stated that drug dealers had successfully undermined our society’s social fabric while maintaining the conviction of a drug dealer. [Chhota Singh vs. State of Haryana]
No sympathy should be extended to drug dealers, according to Justice HS Madan, as they have misled the youth.
“Even so, the appellant/accused chose to endanger the lives and health of locals by turning them into heroin addicts in order to benefit financially. Drug dealers have been successful in tearing up our society’s social structure and guiding young people down the wrong path.”
“Such people must be dealt with firmly and sternly, and sympathy must be extended to them should this be counterproductive and lead to an upsurge in drug trafficking,” declared the Court.
A criminal appeal brought by the appellant against a 2007 Special Court sentence of 10 years of hard labour and a Rs. 15,000 fine was being heard by the Bench.
The appellant was allegedly selling poppy husk in an abandoned house in the centre of the village of Fatehpuri, according to information provided to the police.
They organised a raiding party and captured the appellant after discovering him seated on sacks of illegal goods.
One of the witnesses who accompanied the officers on the raid was said to have become hostile. The appellant had been heavily relying on the aforementioned animosity, alleging that he was wrongly accused in the case as the relevant witness had made it very plain that there had been no raid. But the Court noted:
“This claim does not convince me. It must be remembered that people are frequently swayed by a variety of factors, such as proximity to someone who has committed a crime, considerations like caste, creed, and religion, and factors like the person who has committed the crime being from the same village or town, which makes them reluctant to speak the truth and instead presents a false account to aid the accused.”
“The prosecution tale is unaffected simply because the independent witness declined to corroborate the prosecution’s version of events.”
The police officers didn’t intentionally entangle the accused in this case or testify against him in order to get him convicted, the court stated.
“Nothing in the records indicates that the prosecution’s examination of these official witnesses of recovery was motivated by a grudge against the defendants. They should therefore be treated equally to those of independent witnesses.”
“His deposition cannot be taken as gospel truth in order to ignore the copious amounts of incriminating evidence that the prosecution has presented, both oral and documentary, which has been found to be cogent, convincing, and reliable. He is an independent witness with a history of being hostile to the prosecution,” the judge’s judgement.
For the appellant, attorney Ramesh Goyat was present.
The State was represented by Additional Advocate General Vijesh Sharma.