Kashish Jain
Recently the Supreme Court acquitted three men who had been accused of possession of poppy. The Apex Court has stated that the men concerned were charged under the wrong sections.
The Supreme Court held that a private vehicle cannot be classified as a ‘Public Place’ under the NDPS Act.
The Bench that gave this verdict was presided over by Justice UU Lalit. This Bench said that the recovery of banned substances from a private vehicle parked on a public road wouldn’t be covered under section 43 of the NDPS act.
The aforementioned provision has been used for the recovery of the banned substance.
The bench, however, did not refrain from pointing out that such cases can be covered under Section 42 of the Act. The bench then allowed an appeal against the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that upheld the conviction and sentence awarded to the accused under the NDPS Act.
While Section 43 of the NDPS deals with the power of seizure and arrest in a public space, Section 42 gives designated officers power of ‘entry, search, seizure or arrest’ in a suspected Narcotics case.
Two bags of Poppy straw were recovered from the accused while they sat in a jeep in a public space at Rori-Jatana Road in Haryana.
