STATE OF PUNJABversusBALKAR SINGH AND ANR.

                            STATE OF PUNJAB                                      A
                                   v.
                         BALKAR SINGH AND ANR.

                               MARCH 16, 2004

           [K.G. BALAKRISHNAN AND B.N. SRIKRISHNA, JJ.]                          B


          Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, :

           S. 15-"Conscious possession "-Accused found sitting on a cluster of
    bags containing of poppy husk-Prosecution-Trial court held accused to C
    have committed offence under s. 15-Acquittal by High Court-Held, the High
    Court committed no error in holding that there was no evidence to prove that
    the accused were in conscious possession of the poppy husk recovered by the
    police-The prosecution failed to discharge its obligation to prove the
    possession of the poppy husk by the accused-Recovery was effected from a D
    field in a vii/age-Accused belonging to different village-The police did not
    make any investigation as to how the 100 bags ofpoppy husk were transported
    to the place of incident-They also did not adduce any evidence to show the
y   ownership of the poppy husk-The presence of respondents at the place from
    where the bag_s of poppy husk were recovered itself was taken as possession
    of these bags by the police-Police should have conducted further investigation E
    to prove that these accused were really in possession of these articles.

         CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No.
    II44 of I 997.

         From the Judgment and Order dated 24.7.96. of the Punjab and Haryana     F
    High Court in Cr!. A. No. 297-SB of 1994.

         Mrs. Naresh Bakshi for Bimal Roy Jad for the Appellant.

         J.P. Dhanda, Mrs. Raj Rani Dhanda and V. Dhanda for the Respondents.
                                                                                 G
         The following Order of the Court was delivered :

         This is an appeal by the State of Punjab Challenging the acquittal of
    two accused persons by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh.
    Respondents Balkar Singh and Munish Chand were tried by the Additional
                                        2s                                       H
    26                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2004] 3 S.C.R.

A Sessions Judge, Bhatinda alleging that they committed the offence punishable
    under section 15 of the NDPS Act. On 5.12.1991 the SHO Balbir Sin~h, AS!
    Jamail Singh, Sub-Inspector Kaur Singh along with some other Home Guard
    Officials were doing patrol duty. When their vehicle reached near Village
    Bhagwanpur, the patrol party turned to two groups and one party under the
B   leadership of Balbir Singh proceeded to Village Lohgarh. When the patrol
    party under the leadership of Balbir Singh reached a place of one Km. away
    from bridge across Ghaghar river, they found a cluster of bags kept in field
    and the resp9ndents sitting on them. Balbir Singh suspected that the bags
    must have been containing poppy husk. He apprised the accused of their
    right under section 50 of the NDPS Act. The accused did not raise any
C   objection for search being conducted. Balbir Singh counted the number of
    bags and it was found that there were I00 bags and each bag contained
    poppy husk having weight of 40 kg. Out of each bag, I00 gm. of poppy husk
    was separated and he made samples. Later, the bags of Poppy Husk were
    taken into custody and kept in the Police Station. After investigation
    prosecution was launched against the respondents.
D
          The accused respondents alleged false implication, but no evidence was
    adduced. The Sessions Court held that the respondents committed the offence
    under section 15 of the NDPS Act as they were found in possession of the
    l 00 bags of poppy husk. Aggrieved by the same, the respondents filed appeal
E   and the High Court was pleased to acq1Jit the respondents. This is challenged
    before us.

          We heard the counsel for the appellant. The High Co.urt by the impugned
  judgment stated that the prosecution failed to prove that. these respondents
  were in conscious possession ofthe poppy husk recovered by the police. The
p evidence by the prosecution consisted of the testimony of PW-I Balbir Singh
  and PW-2 ASI Jarnail Singh. Both these witnesses deposed that they found
  the respondents sitting on the bags of poppy husk. The recovery was effected
  from a field in Village Lohgarh. The respondents belonged to different
  Villages. The respondent Balkar Singh is a resident of village Bira Bedi in
  District Hisar while respondent Munish Chand is a resident of Farukhabad.
G The police did not make any investigation as to how these I 00 bags of poppy
  husk were transported to the place of incident. They also did not adduce any
   evidence to show the ownership of the poppy husk. The presence of
  respondents at the place from where the bags of poppy husk was recovered
   itself was taken as possession of these bags by the police. In fairness, the
H police should have conducted further investigation to prove that these accused
                   STATE OF PUNJAB v. BALKAR SINGH                            27
were really in possession of these articles. The failure to give any satisfactory   A
explanation by the accused for being present on that place itself does not
prove that they were in possession of these articles. Though the respondents
raised a plea before the Session Court, the same was not considered by the
Sessions Judge in the manner in which it should have been considered. We
do not think that the High Court erred in holding that there was no evidence        B
to prove that the respondents were in conscious possession of the poppy husk
recovered by the police. The prosecution failed to discharge its obligation to
prove the possession of the poppy husk by the respondents. We do not find
any infirmity in the judgment passed by the High Court.

       The appeal is dismissed.
                                                                                    c
R.P.                                                         Appeal dismissed.