In Brief
The State of Punjab appealed against an order of conviction of two accused persons under the Narcotic Drugs Act. Though the personal search of the accused yielded no contraband and violated procedural requirements under Section 50 of the Act, the search of their vehicle yielded seven bags of poppy husk (34 kgs each). The Court upheld the conviction, holding that procedural defects in personal search do not invalidate a properly conducted vehicle search. However, it reduced the substantive sentence from 12 years to 10 years while maintaining the fine and default provisions.
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