P&H: Reduces 2-Year NDPS Sentence to Time Already Served After 24-Year Delay

punjab-haryana
⚖️ Order Date: 15 Oct 2026
Headnotes

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, S.15 — Contraband — 10 Kg Poppy Husk — Non-commercial quantity, incident about 24 years earlier, prolonged trial, appellant’s age and period of imprisonment already undergone — Judgment of conviction is upheld; but order on point of quantum of...


Facts of the Case

P&H: Reduces 2-Year NDPS Sentence to Time Already Served After 24-Year Delay

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the conviction of Gurmeet Lal for possessing poppy husk but reduced his two-year prison sentence to the two months and 21 days he had already served. The Court partly allowed his appeal, which challenged the sentence rather than the conviction.

The case arose from a 2002 police patrol in Hoshiarpur district. Police said they stopped Lal on a road and recovered 10 kilograms of poppy husk from a bag he was carrying. He was convicted under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and sentenced to two years’...

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