The Supreme Court recently in case of State of Himachal Pradesh V. Nirmal kaur alias Nimmo stated that the presence of “morphine” and “meconic acid” in the seized contraband is sufficient proof that it is a “opium poppy” as specified in Section 2(xvii) of the NDPS Act.

In Nirmal Kaur alias Nimmo, it was observed thus by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and CT Ravikumar:

Once a Chemical Examiner establishes that the seized ‘poppy straw’ indicates a positive test for the contents of ‘morphine’ and ‘meconic acid’, it is sufficient to establish that it is covered by subclause (a) of Clause (xvii) of Section 2 of the 1985 Act and no further test would be necessary for establishing that the seized material is a part of ‘papaver somniferum L’. In other words, once it is established that the seized ‘poppy straw’ tests positive for the contents of ‘morphine’ and ‘meconic acid’, no other test would be necessary for bringing home the guilt of the accused under the provisions of Section 15 of the 1985 Act.