In Brief
A truck driver was prosecuted for trafficking 600.4 kilograms of illegal poppy straw under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The trial court convicted him and sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment. The High Court acquitted him, holding that the prosecution had failed to produce the contraband material before the trial court. The Supreme Court dismissed the Union's appeal, affirming that in drug trafficking cases, production of the seized contraband as primary evidence is mandatory. Mere oral testimony and seizure documents cannot substitute for the actual material, particularly in serious NDPS offences carrying stringent sentences.
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