A 50-year-old man, who was found guilty of possessing 20 kg pseudo ephedrine drug, has been sentenced to over three years in jail, a period already spent by him behind bars, by a Delhi court which said he deserved "one opportunity to mend his ways".
Special Judge Shail Jain took a lenient view towards Delhi resident Kishan Pal, who was arrested from Chandni Chowk here in 2013 with a bag of pseudo ephedrine, considering his age and family circumstances.
"Considering the age and family circumstances of convict that he is the sole bread earner of the family, coupled with the fact that convict is not involved in any other similar matter, I am of the opinion that one opportunity to mend his ways must be given to the convict.
"Hence, I am of the opinion that ends of justice would be served if Kishan Pal is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 3 years and 2 months (period already undergone by him)," the judge said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.
The court, which held Pal guilty under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, said the accused could not prove he was falsely implicated by the police or if there was any animosity between him and the cops.
"There is no evidence led by the accused or any reason attributed by the accused for being falsely implicated in the present case nor there is any animosity or inimical relations between the accused and police officials due to which accused might have been falsely implicated," it said.
The court relied on the testimonies of police officials and rejected the contention of the defence counsel that there were no independent witnesses other than the cops.
"Testimonies of police officials cannot be considered to be unreliable only because they are police officials," it said while noting that the cops had asked various persons to become witnesses but they refused to join investigation.
According to the prosecution, the police conducted a raid after getting information that Pal was dealing in chemical pseudo ephedrine drug and will to deliver the same on March 8, 2013 at Chandni Chowk here.
The police acted on the tip-off and raided the area where they arrested Pal with 20 kg of the banned drug, it said.
During the trial, Pal, who was in jail, denied the allegations and claimed he was falsely implicated by the cops.
