HC discharges licensed medicine dealer in NDPS case

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court has discharged a licensed medicine dealer in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.Justice H S Grewal pronounced an order to this effect on Friday, discharging petitioner Anil Kumar Kaushik, who had filed a revision petition seeking the setting aside of the order passed by the special judge in Faridkot on Feb 25, 2022.The petitioner, proprietor of a medical store in Delhi, had sought discharge from the case in which an FIR had been filed under the NDPS Act on May 23, 2021, at the Kotkapura City police station in the Faridkot district.As per the petitioner, his name was added to the FIR based on the disclosure of Harjinder Singh alias Kala, who was arrested along with one Jaspal Singh alias Rinku on May 23, 2021, for carrying 31,020 intoxicant tablets in a light commercial vehicle near Mandi Gate, Kotkapura.The counsel for the petitioner had submitted in the court that his client had been falsely implicated in the case and had no connection with the alleged offence. The counsel also submitted before the court that the petitioner had been nominated in the case solely on the disclosure made by a co-accused, which carried no evidentiary value unless duly corroborated by independent material.The petitioner prayed that there was independent evidence connecting him with the alleged recovery from the offending vehicle. Therefore, the essential ingredients for invoking the provisions of the NDPS Act against him were not made out.After considering the arguments, the court observed that the mere supply of medicines by a licensed dealer in the ordinary course of business, without any material showing conscious knowledge, deliberate concealment, or intentional involvement in illegal activity, could not by itself make out a criminal case.Allowing the revision petition, Justice Grewal ordered to set aside the order of the Faridkot special judge to discharge the petitioner in the FIR and continue with the trial against the remaining accused in the case.