TMI Blog2019 (8) TMI 2X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o be corelated. The conviction of the appellant cannot be upheld - appeal allowed. - CRIMINAL APPEAL NO(s).1143 OF 2019 (arising out of SLP(Crl.)No.1273 of 2019) - - - Dated:- 30-7-2019 - Ashok Bhushan And Navin Sinha, JJ. JUDGMENT NAVIN SINHA, J. The appellant assails his conviction and sentence under Sections 8 and 15 of the of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred as the NDPS Act ) for 15 years along with fine of ₹ 1,50,000/under Section 31 of the NDPS Act. 2. The appellant is stated to have been carrying a plastic flour packet in his right hand leading to recovery of 10 kgs. of opium. No independent witness from the locality was include ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to have been seized from the appellant was not conclusively established by the prosecution. 6. The accused had raised an objection regarding the sample produced in court not having been established as seized from him. The Trial Court opined that the malkhanas in the State of Uttar Pradesh were in miserable condition and strange and objectionable thing come to the eyes . The plastic packet produced was of very low quality and the quality of ink used in writing the name of the accused on the same was not decipherable and may have got erased with passage of time. Nonetheless, since the allegations against the appellant had been proved by the witnesses, the failure to conclusively identify the sample produced as having been seized ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the present case to relate the seized sample with that seized from the appellant makes the case no different from failure to produce the seized sample itself. In the circumstances the mere production of a laboratory report that the sample tested was narcotics cannot be conclusive proof by itself. The sample seized and that tested have to be corelated. The observations in Vijay Jain vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2013) 14 SCC 527, as follows are considered relevant : 10. On the other hand, on a reading of this Court's judgment in Jitendra's case, we find that this Court has taken a view that in the trial for an offence under the NDPS Act, it was necessary for the prosecution to establish by cogent evidence that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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