STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESHversusTRILOK CHAND & ANR.

                        [2018] 1 S.C.R. 255                             255


               STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH                                A
                                 v.
                    TRILOK CHAND & ANR.
             (Criminal Appeal Nos. 2133-2134 of 2011)
                        JANUARY 17, 2008                                B
        [N. V. RAMANA AND S. ABDUL NAZEER, JJ.]
      Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – s.55
– Contraband goods – Recovery of – Conviction of respondents-
accused under s.20 and sentence of 10 years rigorous imprisonment
                                                                        C
– Acquittal by High Court – State’s appeal against acquittal on the
ground that High Court gave greater importance to trivial
discrepancies in the prosecution case and without assigning any
plausible reason allowed the appeals of accused – Held: The
discrepancies in the prosecution case highlighted were the evidence
of DW-1 that on the fateful day, police officials asked him to load     D
gunny bags lying outside the abandoned house; the evidence of
independent witnesses to the effect that they were not present at the
spot when the incident took place and that they were called to police
station and their signatures were taken on some papers – These
discrepancies were major in character – The evidence is lacking
                                                                        E
support to establish that the contraband was really recovered from
the possession of the accused in the manner alleged by the
prosecution on the said date and time – In view of number of
discrepancies in the prosecution case coupled with the contradictory
statements by prosecution witnesses, the prosecution story appeared
doubt – Prosecution having failed to establish the commission of        F
alleged offence by the accused beyond reasonable doubt, accused-
respondents are granted benefit of doubt – Interference with the
order of acquittal not called for.
      Dismissing the appeals, the Court
      HELD: 1. The record showed that in order to satisfy the           G
requirement of Section 55 of N.D.P.S. Act, the case property was
accordingly tampered by the police. In the prescribed form, the
place of seizure was mentioned as Nagwain and not Panarsa Bridge
and the name of only one accused was shown from whom the
contraband was said to have been seized while he was carrying           H
                               255
256            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2018] 1 S.C.R.


A     three gunny bags. The name of other accused was added
      afterwards to justify the fact that one person could not have carried
      three bags of contraband at a time. In view of number of
      discrepancies in the prosecution case coupled with the
      contradictory statements by prosecution witnesses, the entire
      prosecution story vitiated and led for discrediting its version.
B
      Contradictions in the statement of the witnesses are fatal for the
      case, though minor discrepancies or variance in their evidence
      will not disfavour. Considering the circumstances of the case on
      hand, it can be said that the discrepancies are comparatively of a
      major character and go to the root of the prosecution story. These
C     cannot therefore be ignored to give undue importance to the
      prosecution case. It is well settled that the Court can sift the
      chaff from the grain and find out the truth from the testimony of
      the witnesses. The evidence is to be considered from the point
      of view of trustworthiness and once the same stands satisfied, it
      ought to inspire confidence in the mind of the Court to accept
D
      the stated evidence. [Paras 11, 12][260-C-G]
            2. The evidence is scanty and lacking support to establish
      that the contraband was really recovered from the possession of
      the respondents in the manner alleged by the prosecution on the
      said date and time. It is imperative that the law the Court should
E     follow for awarding conviction under the provisions of N.D.P.S.
      Act is “stringent the punishment stricter the proof.” In such
      cases, the prosecution evidence has to be examined very
      zealously so as to exclude every chance of false implication. But,
      in the case on hand, under the circumstances, the prosecution
F     story cannot be believed to award conviction to the accused-
      respondents. They deserve benefit of doubt. [Para 13][261-A-C]
            State of H.P. v. Lekh Raj (2000) 1 SCC 247 : [1999] 4
            Suppl. SCR 286; Sukhdev Yadav v. State of Bihar
            (2001) 8 SCC 86 : [2001] 3 Suppl. SCR 91 – relied
G           on.
                             Case Law Reference
            [1999] 4 Suppl. SCR 286          relied on       Para 12
            [2001] 3 Suppl. SCR 91           relied on       Para 12
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     STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH v. TRILOK CHAND                              257


      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal                      A
Nos. 2133-2134 of 2011.
      From the Judgment and Order dated 14.10.2009 of the High Court
of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla in Criminal Appeal Nos. 220 and 348 of
2006.
     D. K. Thakur, S. Ahmed, Varinder Kumar Sharma, Naresh K.               B
Sharma, Advs. for the Appellant.
      S. S. Ray, Vaibhav G., Ms. Rakhi Ray, Advs. for the Respondents.
      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
       N. V. RAMANA, J. 1. These appeals are filed by the State
                                                                            C
having aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 14th October, 2009
passed by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, allowing the Criminal
Appeals filed by the accused—respondents herein against their conviction
passed by the trial Court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act (for short “the N.D.P.S. Act”). By the said order, the
High Court set aside the order of conviction and sentence passed by the     D
trial Court against the accused—respondents herein.
       2. In order to appreciate the merits of these appeals, brief facts
as emerged from the prosecution case need to be noted at the outset.
On 10th July, 2004, Anjani Kumar, Inspector, CID, Shimla (PW12), upon
receiving a secret information that some people are pursuing the unlawful   E
business of charas, proceeded towards Panarsa Bridge along with ASI
Gian Chand (PW 9) and Constable Rakesh Kumar (PW 8) and some
other police personnel. Amar Chand (PW 1) and Kuldeep Kumar (PW
2) who were going on that route at that time, also joined them as
witnesses. At around 11.30 p.m. in the night, the accused—respondents
herein arrived at that place carrying with them three gunny bags of         F
contraband (Charas) and upon seeing police, they tried to run away.
Police overpowered the accused and seized the contraband from their
possession, prepared samples, sealed and marked them and registered
the case. After investigation, charges were framed against the accused
and upon their denial, the case was committed for trial.                    G
      3. The Trial Court convicted the accused for the offence punishable
under Section 20 of the N.D.P.S. Act and sentenced them to undergo
rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of
Rs.1,00,000/- each and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further
imprisonment for two years.
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258            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2018] 1 S.C.R.


A            4. Aggrieved by the order of conviction and sentence passed by
      the trial Court, the accused filed appeals before the High Court and the
      High Court after analyzing the evidence allowed their appeals and set
      aside the conviction. Dissatisfied with the acquittal order passed by the
      High Court, the State is in appeal before us.
B           5. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the appellant –
      State of Himachal Pradesh and the learned counsel appearing for the
      respondents as well, and carefully gone through the material on record.
             6. It is submitted before us by the learned counsel for the State
      that while dealing with the appeals of the accused, the High Court has
C     given greater importance to trivial discrepancies in the prosecution case.
      Ignoring the cogent evidence advanced by official witnesses, the High
      Court simply held that there were material contradictions in their
      depositions and without assigning any plausible reason allowed the appeals
      of the accused and thereby committed an error of law.
D           7. Learned counsel appearing for the accused—respondents,
      however, supported the view taken by the High Court in acquitting the
      accused.
             8. Having given our thoughtful consideration to the rival
      submissions and after going through the material available on record, we
E     notice the following discrepancies in the prosecution case, which in our
      considered opinion, bear greater importance in dealing with the case on
      hand :
            (i) The evidence of Tulsi Ram (DW 2) makes it clear that on the
                day of incident i.e. 10-7-2004, when he was going to his house
F
                through Panarsa Bridge at about 4/5 p.m., police officials met
                him on the way near Panarsa Bridge. They asked him to load
                three gunny bags lying outside an abandoned house, into the
                vehicle. Accordingly he carried two gunny bags while one bag
                was carried by the police officials and loaded them in the vehicle.
G               He has also deposed that the police officials told him that the
                bags contained contraband material ‘charas’ and the same was
                recovered from the abandoned house.
            (ii) PW 1 (Amar Chand) and PW 2 (Kuldip Kumar) who were
                said to be the independent witnesses, did not support the case
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     STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH v. TRILOK CHAND                                259
                  [N. V. RAMANA, J.]

         of prosecution. They clearly stated that they were not present       A
         at the spot when the incident took place and denied the detaining
         of accused—respondents in their presence and alleged
         recovery of contraband from the accused. In categorical terms,
         they deposed that they were called to the police station and
         their signatures were taken on some papers. Moreover, they
                                                                              B
         have admitted that earlier also they were used by the police as
         prosecution witnesses in some other cases.
       (iii) According to the depositions of police officials PW 9 (Gian
           Chand) was sent to shopkeeper Hem Raj (PW5) to borrow
           scale and weights on the intervening night of 10th & 11th July,
                                                                              C
           2004, and the seized material was sent to malkhana. Contrary
           to this, PW 5 (Hem Raj) stated that the scale and weights
           were borrowed from him by the police officials in the morning
           9 or 10 am on 11th July, 2004. The said PW5 was also declared
           hostile. Not only this, according to Anjani Kumar (PW 12),
           Gian Chand (PW 9) left the spot to get scale and weights at        D
           11.30 p.m. returned to the spot at 8.15 p.m., ante time. Whereas
           another witness Constable Rakesh Kumar (PW 8) deposed
           that Gian Chand (PW 9) left the spot to bring scale and weights
           at 1 a.m.
      (iv)According to Anjani Kumar (PW 12), he called Rajinder Kumar         E
          (PW11) on his cell phone and asked to join him at Kullu whereas
          the record shows that Rajinder Kumar (PW 11) joined PW 12
          at Panarsa and he has clearly denied to have received any call
          from PW 12.
      (v)It is the case of the accused—respondents that while they            F
         were taking tea at a Dhaba, police arrived there and taken
         them to police station and falsely implicated them in the case.
         This fact corroborates with the deposition of Bihari Lal (DW
         3), a tea vendor, who stated that police officials came to his
         shop and took away the accused on 11-7-2004.
                                                                              G
       9. Besides the above noted inadequacies, there are also certain
other contradictory statements by the prosecution witnesses relating to
other aspects of the case, per se, according to Rakesh Kumar (PW8),
he carried the report (Ex.PH) to police station in a truck, whereas PW-
9 (Gaian Chand) states that PW8 travelled by a scooter and the prime
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260             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2018] 1 S.C.R.


A     witness Anjani Kumar (PW12) says that PW8 went to police station
      and returned to the spot by foot.
             10. One more important discrepancy in the prosecution case that
      gives rise to suspicion of truthfulness of police officers is that, as deposed
      by Anjani Kumar (PW 12) the entire seized case property together with
B     six sample parcels was deposited by him with Gandhi Ram (PW 6).
      Whereas Dabe Ram, SHO (PW4) says that Anjani Kumar (PW12)
      produced three bags and three sample parcels before him at 8.30 pm.
      On the other hand, the material on record proves the same wrong as at
      the relevant time, PW12 was present at Sadar Police Station, Mandi and
      sent special report to Superintendent of Police (Ext. PW 11/A).
C
             11. It also appears from the record that in order to satisfy the
      requirement of Section 55 of N.D.P.S. Act, the case property was
      accordingly tampered by the police. It is also relevant to mention here
      that in the prescribed form, the place of seizure was mentioned as
      Nagwain and not Panarsa Bridge and the name of only one accused i.e.
D     Santosh Kumar was shown from whom the contraband was said to
      have been seized while he was carrying three gunny bags. As rightly
      observed by the High Court, it appears that the name of other accused
      was added afterwards to justify the fact that one person could not have
      carried three bags of contraband at a time.
E             12. Going by the number of discrepancies in the prosecution case
      coupled with the contradictory statements by prosecution witnesses, the
      entire prosecution story vitiates and leads for discrediting its version.
      Contradictions in the statement of the witnesses are fatal for the case,
      though minor discrepancies or variance in their evidence will not disfavour
F     [See: State of H.P. Vs. Lekh Raj (2000) 1 SCC 247]. Considering the
      circumstances of the case on hand, it can be said that the discrepancies
      are comparatively of a major character and go to the root of the
      prosecution story. We cannot therefore ignore them to give undue
      importance to the prosecution case. It is well settled that the Court can
      sift the chaff from the grain and find out the truth from the testimony of
G     the witnesses. The evidence is to be considered from the point of view
      of trustworthiness and once the same stands satisfied, it ought to inspire
      confidence in the mind of the Court to accept the stated evidence [See:
      Sukhdev Yadav v. State of Bihar, (2001) 8 SCC 86].

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      STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH v. TRILOK CHAND                                 261
                   [N. V. RAMANA, J.]

       13. In the light of the above discussion, in our considered opinion,     A
the prosecution has failed to establish the commission of alleged offence
by the accused—respondents beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence
is scanty and lacking support to establish that the contraband was really
recovered from the possession of the respondents in the manner alleged
by the prosecution on the said date and time. It is imperative that the law
                                                                                B
the Court should follow for awarding conviction under the provisions of
N.D.P.S. Act is “stringent the punishment stricter the proof.” In such
cases, the prosecution evidence has to be examined very zealously so as
to exclude every chance of false implication. But, in the case on hand,
under the above explained circumstances, the prosecution story cannot
be believed to award conviction to the accused—respondents. They                C
deserve benefit of doubt. We are, therefore, in complete agreement with
the view taken by the High Court and see no reason to interfere with the
order impugned herein.
       14. Accordingly, the Criminal Appeals stand dismissed.
                                                                                D

Devika Gujral                                              Appeals dismissed.




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