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Rajesh Dhiman v. The State of Himachal Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 607Decided 26 Oct 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 1032 of 2013
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Surya Kant · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

The two appellants were stopped at a police checkpoint in Himachal Pradesh in 2002 while riding a motorcycle without a number plate, and a search allegedly turned up over 3 kg of charas (cannabis resin) in a backpack carried by one of them. They claimed the drugs actually belonged to an unidentified stranger they had given a lift to, who fled the scene. The trial court acquitted them, mainly because independent witnesses either weren't examined or turned hostile, and because the same police officer had acted as both complainant and investigator. The Himachal Pradesh High Court reversed the acquittal on appeal and sentenced them to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, relying on a recent Constitution Bench ruling (Mukesh Singh v. State) that the complainant also being the investigating officer does not by itself vitiate a trial: actual bias or a real likelihood of bias must be shown, and none was shown here. The Court found the appellants' story about a mysterious vanishing stranger implausible and self-defeating, since it effectively conceded they were present, were searched, and that the search was a spontaneous chance recovery. It held that non-examination of independent witnesses does not automatically entitle an accused to acquittal, especially where police made genuine efforts to secure such witnesses and their testimony was otherwise consistent and credible. The Court also found no merit in the claim that Section 50 of the NDPS Act (search safeguards for a person) applied, since the drugs were found in a bag, not on the body.

Lesson Learnt

In drug possession cases, a police officer being both the complainant and investigator is not by itself a ground for acquittal unless actual bias is shown, and an accused's alternative explanation for recovered contraband must be credible and supported by some evidence, not just asserted.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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