New Delhi: A 36-year-old handicapped man has been sentenced to a 10-year jail term for possessing five kgs of heroin by a Delhi court which took a lenient view as he has "huge family responsibility".
Special NDPS Judge M K Nagpal awarded minimum jail term of 10 years to Narinder Pal as prescribed in the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him for carrying the narcotic drug.
"Keeping in view totality of the facts and circumstances brought on record, specifically the facts that the convict is a handicapped person and is aged just around 36 years and is having a huge family responsibility, the court is taking a lenient view against him in awarding the sentence and he is being sentenced to minimum sentence of rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of Rs one lakh for the above said offence," the judge said.
The court said he was carrying the drug for commercial purpose.
East Delhi resident Pal had sought leniency, saying he had to maintain his wife, two kids, his mother and two unmarried siblings.
He was arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on August 16, 2010 following an information that a handicapped man would be coming at a bus stand on Ring Road near Rajghat and he would be carrying a bag containing heroin and deliver it to someone else.
According to the prosecution, when Pal saw the DRI team, he tried to escape but was apprehended and the heroin consignment was recovered from his possession.
Pal, in his statement, had said that on August 15, 2010, he had met one Iqbal Gill in Punjab and when the man came to know about his unemployed status and poor financial condition, he was asked him to carry a bag containing the narcotic substance to Delhi and deliver it to another person for a payment.
According to Pal, he had agreed to deliver the bag containing five packets of heroin to one African man at a bus stand here from where he was caught by the DRI officials. He had also said that Gill had promised to pay him Rs 10,000.
PTI
