Supreme Court acquits man accused in drug case 22 years after he was booked

The Supreme Court on Friday acquitted a man accused of possessing narcotic substances, 22 years after he was booked in the case on allegations that poppy straws (a narcotic substance) were seized from him [Nababuddin vs State of Haryana]..Pertinently, the bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal took exception to the failure of the courts below to consider the fact that the accused was not properly examined or allowed to explain his alleged conduct under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure (CrPC)..The top court proceeded to order the release of the accused man instead of ordering a retrial, considering that the case dates back to 2001. The man had served five and a half years in jail before his acquittal on November 24. ."The incident is of May 2001, and therefore, it will be unjust to subject the appellant to further examination under Section 313 of CrPC at this stage, nearly twenty-two and half years from the date of the alleged recovery of the contraband. As the only material circumstances pleaded by the prosecution against the appellant were not put to him, a serious prejudice has been caused to the appellant's defence ... the omission goes to the root of the matter as far as the appellant is concerned," the Supreme Court said..Section 313, among other things, states that an accused must be allowed to explain the circumstances and evidence against him during a criminal trial. This examination was not properly conducted by the trial court in the present case, the Supreme Court found. The bench added that the courts below had committed a serious and material illegality in ignoring these aspects..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..The top court, however, noted that the man had not been allowed by the trial court to explain why he had enquired with the station supervisor about the parcels.It proceeded to allow the appeal of the accused and acquitted him in the matter..Non-fulfilment of Section 313 CrPC may cause grave prejudice to accused; solemn duty of court to consider defence: Supreme Court.Advocate Rishi Malhotra appeared for the accused. Advocate Monika Gusain appeared for the Haryana government..[Read judgment]