Uttarakhand court sentences Nepalese woman to 20 years rigorous imprisonment in charas smuggling case

The woman who was caught with 1.4 kg of charas at Dharchula Jhulapul in 2021 had escaped from jail earlier this month.

Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand): The court of Special Sessions Judge Shankar Raj has sentenced a Nepalese woman, who had escaped from jail ahead of her conviction, to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of charas smuggling, sources said on Saturday. Besides the jail sentence, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on the woman.

In case of non-deposit of the fine, the convict will face an additional sentence of five years. The sentence came on a plea by DGC Pramod Pant and ADGC Prem Bhandari in a case of drug smuggling dating back to the year 2021.

Case background: According to the government advocate, the accused Anushka Budhatho, originally a resident of Darchula Dumaling, Nepal, was caught in the year 2021 with 1.4 kg of charas at Dharchula Jhulapul. She was smuggling the contraband from Nepal to India by tying it to her body. Following her arrest by the police, a case was registered against her under the NDPS Act at Dharchula Police Station Kotwali.

Escape from jail ahead of conviction day: Amid the trial in the case in the court, the woman had escaped from jail on the night of 6 Aug. this year, two days before the court was to convict her in the case. On Aug. 8, the accused woman was to be convicted, but she managed to give slip to the police. In her absence, on the appointed date, Special Sessions Judge Shankar Raj went ahead with the proceedings and convicted her and issued a permanent non-bailable warrant against the Nepalese woman.

The police arrested the girl along with a young man from the forest area of Pithoragarh on Thursday and produced them in the court. Superintendent of Police Pithoragarh Lokeshwar Singh said that they are shifting the accused woman to Pithoragarh Jail.