STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Additional Sessions Judge Udhampur Sonia Gupta Monday awarded four years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on Kusum D/o Lassa alias Farooq Bhatt R/o Loi Paddar , Rehsil Paddar , Distt. Kishtwar for offences u/s 8 (c), punishable u/s 20 (b) (ii) (B) of the NDPS Act.
According to the police, “on January 11, 2010 the accused was travelling in a vehicle tempo travel which was on way from Jammu to Kishtwar. At about 1 pm at Kral Nallah check post Kud, the tempo travel was stopped for routine checking. During checking, Charas was recovered from the polythene bag of the accused, who was carrying Charas weighing 900 gram was recovered and after completion of investigation Challan was presented.
Additional Sessions Judge Udhampur Sonia Gupta after hearing Advocate Kiran Kumar Chouhan for the accused observed that It needs to be put on record that the crime committed by the accused is very serious. Narcotic menace is spreading its tentacles throughout the country and is eating vitals of the society and posing a grave threat to the youth of the country , who are pillars of the country. Sentence has to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime committed. There is a little scope for exercise of discretion in deciding the quantum of punishment. The courts have to adhere to the principles of law governing the award of sentence, the legislative intent behind NDPS Act and also the impact of awarding sentence. A balance has to be struck between aggravating and mitigating circumstances before awarding the punishment to an accused. So far as, NDPS Act, it is a very stringent legislation and the purpose behind the Act is to thwart the narcotic trafficking activity. Narcotics, drugs and crime undermine development by eroding social and human capital. This degrades quality of life. With these observations Court awarded four years rigorous imprisonment and fine Rs 50,000 to Kusum a lady Narco Smuggler and sent the accused to District Jail Udhampur for serving the sentence.
