Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985:
s. 37 – Complaint u/s.8,9A,25A,23 and 29 of the Act – Alleging that the respondent was part of an international drug syndicate involved in diversion of a controlled substance – Bail granted by High Court – Appeal to Supreme Court – Held: The bail was granted without applying legal norms provided u/s. 37 – The reasons for granting bail do not reflect application of mind to the seriousness of the offence involved – Bail liable to be cancelled. Allowing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1. Ex facie, there has been no application of mind by the High Court to the rival submissions and, particularly, to the seriousness of the allegations involving an offence punishable under the provisions of the NDPS Act. Merely recording the submissions of the parties does not amount to an indication of a judicial or, for that matter, a judicious application of mind by the Single Judge of the High Court to the basic question as to whether bail should be granted. [Para 11][575-D-E]
2.1 The provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act provide the legal norms which have to be applied in determining whether a case for grant of bail has been made out. There has been a serious infraction by the High Court of its duty to apply the law. The order granting bail is innocent of an awareness of the legal principles involved in determining whether bail should be granted to a person accused of an offence under the NDPS Act. [Para 11][575-E-F]
2.2 The High Court was clearly not justified in granting bail and the reasons provided by the High Court, do not reflect application of mind to the seriousness of the offence which is involved. The allegations against the respondent indicate that he was a member of an international drug syndicate involved in the diversion of a controlled substance; therefore, merely stating that the respondent as an educated person with a Bachelor of Technology “may not commit any offence” is an extraneous circumstance that the High Court should not have considered when granting bail for an offence under the NDPS Act. While determining that the respondent should be granted bail, the High Court has erroneously applied the law to the circumstances. [Paras 12 and 13][576-D-E]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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