In Brief
Gulam Mohammad Malik was convicted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in two separate cases—one tried in Gujarat (10-year sentence) and another in Bombay (death sentence later converted to 30 years). The Supreme Court upheld the conviction but modified the sentence. The Court rejected the appellant's challenge to the confessional statement, finding it voluntary despite being recorded in Hindi (the appellant understood it although could not write it). For the Bombay case, the Court held that the High Court erred in imposing the maximum sentence with a statutory multiplier for prior conviction. Considering the appellant's age and health, the Court reduced the sentence to 16 years, to run concurrently with the Gujarat sentence."
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