The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the judgment of Mohinder Singh V/s State of Punjab [i]ruled out that oral evidence against the accused of producing contraband before the magistrate cannot be considered to be sufficient for recording conviction.
Against the order of acquittal of Trial Court, High Court reversing the same, sentenced the accused with 10 years of imprisonment. High Court relied upon the oral evidence of production of contraband before the Magistrate. Therefore, being aggrieved by the Hon'ble High Court's order, the accused preferred an appeal to the apex Court.
The bench of three judges constituted: Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice R. Bhanumati, and Justice Navin Sinha, relying upon the Judgement of Vijay Jain V/s State of Madhya Pradesh reversed the High Court's order of conviction and the Order of Trial Court was restored.
Thus,it was observed by Hon'ble Supreme Court that:
“When the trial court which is in possession of the case records recorded a finding that there is no order of the Magistrate showing the production of the contraband before the court and acquitted the accused on that basis, in our view, the High Court ought not to have interfered with the said order of acquittal.”
Therefore, the Court ordered:
In the result, the conviction of the appellant under Section 18 of the NDPS Act and the sentence of imprisonment imposed on him is set aside and this appeal is allowed and the appellant is acquitted of the charge.
[i]CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2182 OF 2010