Recently, the SC dismissed an appeal which sought running two sentences concurrently on a person convicted for the offence under Section 29 read with Section 21(c) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 by a Trial Court in Delhi along with Section 23 read with Section 21 of the NDPS Act a Trial Court in Amritsar.
FACTS
The appellant was tried by two Courts. First by the Amritsar Court for an FIR filed against him on the recovery of 4kg of heroin and was sentenced 12 years rigorous imprisonment (RI). For a separate FIR filed against him in Delhi for the possession of 750 gm of heroin, he was sentenced to a minimum 15 years of RI under the provisions of Section 31 (ii) of the NDPS Act. Since he was previously convicted under a different Section of the NDPS Act. The High Court dismissed the appeal for running both the sentences concurrently and thus the appellant-accused filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
APPELLANT’S CASE:
The accused was a foreign national belonging to Lahore, Pakistan; the advocate representing the appellant stressed over the fact that the accused had already spent 22 years in the prison. There should be certain leniency and reduction in the sentence if both the sentences are to be run consecutively. The behaviour in jail of the accused was reasonably good. Hence, the two sentences should be run concurrently under Section 427 Cr.PC.
SUPREME COURT’S OBSERVATION:
The Supreme Court provided clarification over the Section 427 of Cr.PC., stressing that the order by the learned Trial Court of Delhi doesn’t say whether the subsequent sentence is to be run concurrently or consecutively. The Supreme Court elaborated
“The subsequent sentence shall run consecutively and the imprisonment in subsequent sentence shall commence at the expiration of the imprisonment to which he has been previously sentenced.”
The court also explained the Section 427 (1) of Cr.PC. which clearly mentions that ultimately the court holds discretionary powers over the running of the sentence, given it is done judiciously and fairly.
The Supreme Court held that not only are the two judgements been decided separately, the court believes its necessary to run the two sentences consecutively since the accused is convicted under NDPS Act. The court firmly believed that
“No leniency should be shown to an accused who is found to be guilty for the offence under the NDPS Act. Those persons who are dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in causing death or in inflicting death blow to a number of innocent young victims who are vulnerable. Such accused causes deleterious effects and deadly impact on the society. They are hazard to the society. Such organised activities of clandestine smuggling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances into this country and illegal trafficking in such drugs and substances have a deadly impact on the society as a whole. Therefore, while awarding the sentence or punishment in case of NDPS Act, the interest of the society as a whole is required to be taken into consideration.”
The top court believed that the Section 427(1) of Cr.PC. is not to be misused additional to the fact that the court doesn’t feel the accused should be given any forbearance and mercy. “The offences under the NDPS Act are very serious in nature to the society and no discretion will be exercised in the favour of those accused under it.” The appeal was rejected and the accused was now to spend a total of 27 years in prison.
Bench: J. M.R. Shah and J. B.V. Nagarathna
Case title: Mohd Zahid v. State through NCB
Case Details: Crl.A. No.-001457-001457 / 2021
Petitioner’s Advocate: Sangeeta Kumar
Dated: 7th December 2021
Read Judgement:
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(With input from news agency language)
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