In Brief
A 22-23-year-old truck helper was convicted of transporting over 3,300 kgs of cannabis in a truck. The High Court had upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence from 20 years to 15 years imprisonment. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction—holding that presence in a vehicle carrying huge quantities of illicit drugs raises a presumption of knowledge. However, it drastically reduced the sentence, directing his immediate release on the ground that as an impoverished first-time offender with no control over cargo loading, he deserved sentencing reflecting his limited culpability, not the drug's quantity.
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