Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 5: Additional Sessions Judge, Udhampur, Sonia Gupta today awarded 12 years rigorous imprisonment to three narco-smugglers, all from outside the state.
Narco-smugglers -- Sayyed Mohammad Sadiq, son of Mohammad Hanif of CWD Compound, Mumbai, Haroon Sheikh, son of Roju Sheikh of Glamdoli, Uttar Pardesh, and Mohammad Razak alias Mohammad Raza, son of Mohammad Jaffar Raza of Peeron Bagh, Nai Mumbai, were arrested by police from the Jakheni Nullah area on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on October 1, 2011.
According to the police case, Sunil Thakur, Mohammad Yousuf, Vinod Kumar, Bikram Chand and Noor Mohammad were on patrol duty in a Rakhshak vehicle (JK-14 A/5104), driven by Abdul Rashid, at Jakheni Nullah at 11.10 pm when they signalled a Qualis car (MH04BY/8939), which on its way from Srinagar to Jammu, to stop but it sped away. It was chased and intercepted near Sansar Palace. Sadiq and Haroon Sheikh were in the vehicle while Raza had already fled. During search of the vehicle, seven packets of charas weighing 17 kg were recovered. The packets were concealed in a cabin on the floor of the vehicle. On this information, an FIR under section 8/20 of NDPS Act and 179 of MV act was registered against the accused. After completing investigation in the case, IO Padam Dev Singh presented challan in the court. The judge, after hearing both the sides, observed that the crime committed by the accused was very serious. Narcotic menace was spreading its tentacles throughout the country and was eating vitals of the society and posing a grave threat to the youth of the country, who are pillars of the country. Sentence has to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime committed. There is a little scope for exercise of discretion in deciding the quantum of punishment. The courts have to adhere to the principles of law governing the award of sentence, the legislative intent behind NDPS Act and also the impact of awarding sentence. A balance has to be struck between aggravating and mitigating circumstances before awarding the punishment to an accused. So far as NDPS Act is concerned, it is a very stringent legislation and the purpose behind the Act is to thwart the narcotic trafficking activity. Narcotics, drugs and crime undermine development by eroding social and human capital. This degrades quality of life.
With these observations, the judge awarded 12 years of RI to all the accused. Each of them was also fined Rs 1.5 lakh. (JNF) |
