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2015 (1) TMI 166 - HC - CustomsConviction u/s 135 - Recovery and seizure of 400 gold biscuits - Trial court convicting the petitioner u/s 135 of Customs Act, 1962 and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment of 3 years and to pay fine of ₹ 5000/- - Additional Sessions Judge upheld conviction - Held that:- The statement made by the accused under Section 108 of the Customs Act is not hit by the bar prescribed by Section 24 of the Indian Evidence Act - statement of the accused recorded by the Customs Officer prior to the registration of the FIR can be used against him and is not hit by Article 20(3) of the Constitution of India - non-examination of an independent witness joined at the time of alleged recovery is no disqualification to the case of the prosecution - Petitioner does not challenge the order of conviction on merits and restricts his prayer to the quantum of sentence - a lenient view can be taken on the quantum of sentence of the petitioner - As per Section 135 of the Act, the conviction for an offence which exceeds one Crore of rupees may extend to seven years and as per proviso it should not be less than one year - In the present case, 400 biscuits were recovered and their value was assessed at ₹ 1,53,91,200/- - As per the custody certificate, Roop Singh-petitioner has undergone 1 year 2 months and 12 days in custody out of substantive sentence of three years awarded to him and has not misused the concession of bail w.e.f 12.3.2006 - in view the fact that the petitioner has been facing the agony of a protracted criminal trial for the last 24 years, the sentence of the imprisonment awarded to the petitioner is reduced to the period already undergone - however, the fine is enhanced to ₹ 1,00,000 - Decided partly in favour of assesse.
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