HC denies resampling of material four years after seizure
Notably, the Kharar-based lab, where material was sent, had informed police about “missing samples” and sought for it to be sent afresh in January 2016.
{2013 drugs case}
Taking serious note of police laxity, the Punjab and Haryana high court quashed a trial court order allowing the resampling of material four years after it was first seized in a drugs-related case
The FIR in the case was registered at Ludhiana in September 2013. Samples were sent for chemical examination a week later but the police did not track the case and applied for re-sampling permission before the trial court in December 2017, four years after seizure.
Notably, the Kharar-based lab, where material was sent, had informed police about “missing samples” and sought for it to be sent afresh in January 2016. However, it took police another nearly two years until December 2017 to seek permission from the trial court for re-sampling, which is mandatory as per law.
“It (resampling by trial courts) can be permitted only under extremely exceptional circumstances, for which cogent reasons are required to be recorded (by trial court)... no exceptional circumstances have been made out in this case to send second sample,” the bench of justice Manisha Batra observed, adding that the trial court passed the order in question without recording any “cogent reasons”.
“No explanation is coming from prosecution why after receipt of letter from chemical examiner in January 2016, it had moved application for re-sampling after two years,” the bench said, adding that it shows “lackadaisical approach of the prosecution”.
The FIR was registered against the accused, Gagan, on September 15, 2013, after police allegedly recovered 1 kg of opium from the car that he was driving. Gagan had challenged in high court the trial court order of August 2021, which allowed police to send samples from the seized material for chemical examination again.
The high court has made it clear that as per the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, any request for re-testing/re-sampling cannot be entertained as a matter of course. It may, however, be permitted in extremely exceptional circumstances for cogent reasons to be recorded by the trial court.
“An application in such rare cases must be made within a period of fifteen days of the receipt of the test report; no application for re-testing/ re-sampling shall be entertained thereafter. However, in the absence of any compelling circumstances any form of re-testing/ re-sampling is strictly prohibited under the NDPS Act,” it asserted.