Kolkata: Calcutta HC on Friday set aside the conviction of a Nigerian national, allegedly found with cocaine outside City Centre-2 in 2018, due to procedural lapses and directed the external affairs ministry to repatriate him to his country of origin.
The division bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Apurba Sinha Ray set aside the 2023 conviction of a Barasat NDPS court, stating, "It appears that two independent witnesses were not brought on dock by the prosecution, and further, the representative samples as required under Section 52-A of the NDPS Act were not sent to the chemical examiner. Further, the such representative samples and relevant certificates were issued by the concerned judicial magistrate more than one year and two months after the seizure."