Neutral substance quantity must be considered while  contraband as'small' or 'commercial'- Supreme Court

While classifying the amount of contraband discovered as a "small quantity" or "commercial quantity," the Supreme Court reaffirmed that neutral substance quantity cannot be disregarded.

The Kerala High Court in this case allowed the appeal brought by the accused who had been found guilty in an NDPS case by relying on its earlier decision in E. Micheal Raj V. Intelligence Officer, Narcotic Control Bureau 2005(2) Crimes 181 (the challenged ruling, which was rendered in 2007).

The decision in E. Micheal Raj [(2008) 5 SCC 161] was later overturned in Hira Singh Vs. Union of India, the bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka remarked when the appeal against this decision was scheduled for hearing last week.

There is no argument regarding the fact that the judicial decision in Hira Singh v. Union of India & Anr., reported as 2020 SCC Online SC 382, now resolves the issue and states that the decision of this Court relied upon in the contested judgement, "E. Micheal Raj V. Intelligence Officer, Narcotic Control Bureau, (2008) 5 SCC 161," is no longer good law and that the quantity of the neutral substance cannot be disregarded when calculating the amount "The bench declared.

The bench noted the following when granting the State's appeal: "Given the aforementioned circumstances, we are forced to accept the appeal and maintain the 10-year sentence that the Trial Court imposed. Although we are aware of the absurdity of the situation caused by the extended pending of the current appeal, the in question judgement is from the 28.3.2007, or 15 years ago "The Supreme Court's three-judge panel had made the following ruling in Hira Singh (supra):

(I)This Court's ruling in the case of E. Micheal Raj (Supra) taking the position that, when determining the small quantity or commercial quantity of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance in a mixture with one or more neutral substance(s), the quantity of the neutral substance(s) is not to be taken into consideration and that, instead, only the actual content by weight of the offending narcotic drug is relevant for the purpose of the investigation (II). If narcotics or psychotropic substances are found in a mixture with one or more neutral substances, the quantity of the neutral substance(s) must be considered when determining the "small or commercial quantity" of the narcotics or psychotropic substances, along with the actual content by weight of the offending substance.

Intelligence Officer, Thiruvananthapuram

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K K Naushad