A special judge hearing narcotics cases on Wednesday awarded death penalty to Ghulam Malik, a resident of Jammu & Kashmir, who was caught peddling drugs more than once.

The prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused under a provision of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), which states that if an accused is convicted of an offence involving trafficking of narcotics twice, he is punishable with death.

A visibly emotional NDPS judge P B Sawant said: “In 29 years of legal service, 10 years of which I’ve spent as a judicial officer, this is the first time I am giving a death sentence.”

“I’m sorry. But duty is duty,” judge Sawant told Hyder Ali Mooman, the counsel appearing for Malik.

Malik was convicted on December 19 for carrying hashish. The same day, Special Public Prosecutor Arun Gupte moved an application seeking death penalty for the accused under Section 31 A of the NDPS Act—which prescribes that a person convicted for carrying drugs “shall be punishable with death” for any subsequent conviction .

Earlier, Malik was convicted by a Gujarat court for conspiring to smuggle hashish in 2004.

On a tip-off, the Ahmedabad unit of NCB had seized an abandoned truck loaded with 142 kg of hashish concealed in 42 packets passing Shamlaji Road on January 12, 2002. Documents found in the truck indicated that 55 kg of hashish was to be delivered to Malik.

On March 9, 2004, a fast-track court sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him.

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