Quantity of Heroin Can Justify Sentence Above NDPS Minimum; Section 32B Factors Not Exhaustive: Supreme Court

The appellant was convicted under Section 21 of the NDPS Act for possessing 1 kg of heroin and sentenced to 15 years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2 lakh; the High Court upheld this (para 1). The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the conviction and issued notice only on sentence (para 2). The appellant argued that neither court gave reasons under Section 32B for going above the ten-year minimum, that he was a poor first offender and a mere carrier, and that the main supplier was never arrested (para 3).

For commercial quantity, Section 21 prescribes ten to twenty years and a fine of Rs.1 lakh to Rs.2 lakh (para 6). Section 32B lets the court take into account such factors as it deems fit in addition to clauses (a) to (f), so the listed factors are not exhaustive; following Rafiq Qureshi, the quantity of the drug is a relevant factor for a higher sentence (para 6). The Special Court had considered the plea for leniency and stopped short of the twenty-year maximum (para 6). That the main supplier was not caught is no ground to reduce the sentence; the appellant sold the heroin to the informant and was not a mere carrier, and even a knowing carrier of a large commercial quantity may get more than the minimum (para 6). Given the deadly impact of drug trafficking on society, especially the young, public interest tilts towards a suitably higher sentence, and poverty, being a carrier or the sole breadwinner is not a mitigating circumstance (para 7).