Criminal Lawyer: In case of commercial quantity of drugs the accused has to be awarded minimum sentence of 10 years; SC.

Supreme Court of India

Justice L Nageswara Rao

The Supreme Court of India had refused to reduce the sentence of 10 years awarded in NDPS Act by the courts below, due to Section 15 of the act, which mandates minimum imprisonment of 10 years, in case of conviction, for commercial quantity of contraband.

In the said case the truck was loading poppy seeds from 18 kilometres away from the villages, of which it has licence to load poppy seeds, therefore, the plea of the accused that he was doing so under the licence was negated by the top court,  holding that the licence was only for the village which was 18 kilometre away from where the truck was loading the poppy seeds. Therefore, conviction for offence ordered by the trial court and High Court was affirmed in the case titled as "Ganga Ram versus state Of MP".