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PETITIONER: PURANMALL AGARWALLA
Vs.
RESPONDENT: THE STATE OF ORISSA
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 19/08/1958
BENCH: IMAM, SYED JAFFER BENCH: IMAM, SYED JAFFER SINHA, BHUVNESHWAR P.
CITATION: 1958 AIR 935 1959 SCR 1162
ACT: Double Punishment-Person convicted of transporting opium If can be convicted of being in possession of opium also- Sentence-opium Act (1 of 1878) ss. 4 and 9-Code of Criminal Procedure, (V of 1890) s. 33-Indian Penal Code (XLV of 1860), s. 71.
HEADNOTE: The appellant was caught while he was himself transporting opium. He was convicted under s. 9(a) of the Opium Act for posession " of opium and under s. 9(b) of the Act for " transport of opium and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months under each count, the sentences to run consecutively. The appellant contended that " transport " included " possession " and so the double punishment for possession and transport was not warranted by law : Held, that possession of opium and transport of opium are two separate offences and the appellant could be convicted for 1163 both the offences. Transport of opium may, in certain cases, include the element of possession, and in other cases, it may not. A person transporting opium through other agencies may not be in possession of it at the time it was transported. But a person ...