Chandigarh, March 22 -- A Maloya resident, who spent over four years in jail after being convicted in a drugs case, has walked free after the Punjab and Haryana high court held that he was not a peddler but an addict carrying substances for personal use, and had since given up drugs.

The high court bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj quashed the charge of drug trafficking against him and held him guilty only for possession for personal use, reducing his 10-year sentence to one year, while observing that "some premium needs to be extended to such addicts who have reformed themselves".

As the convict had already undergone over four years of imprisonment, the court ordered his release.

The man was arrested in July 2018 after being found in ...