The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal by the accused, who challenged a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision to affirm his conviction and sentence, which was ten years rigorous imprisonment and ₹1 lakh fine.
The accused man, a rickshaw puller, was allegedly found with 205 kg of poppy straws at the Ambala Cantonment railway station in 2001.
He had initially approached a station master at the railway station to enquire after some parcels for which he and a co-accused held a receipt. Relying on the receipt, the two accused were deemed to be in possession of the parcels, which turned out to be poppy straws.
The accused were subsequently booked under the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, for possessing the substance without any permit.
Source: Barandbench
