Unlike other criminal offences in which a procedural lapse by the prosecution could help an accused get bail, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act doesn’t extend that leniency.
NEW DELHI: Unlike other criminal offences in which a procedural lapse by the prosecution could help an accused get bail, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act doesn’t extend that leniency. The law, amended in 2001, aims at curbing rampant drug trafficking and the menace of narcotic consumption.
Dealing with a Narcotics Control Bureau appeal against a Bombay High court order that allowed bail to a NDPS accused, the Supreme Court has held that apart from an accused charged with sections 26 and 27, who could be granted remission and suspension of sentence of maximum one year, no other NDPS accused could be granted that benefit.
“For all other offences, the court’s power to release an accused on bail during the period before conviction has been thus drastically curtailed by providing that if the public prosecutor opposes the bail application, no accused shall be released on bail, unless the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence,” said a Bench of Justices MB Shah and SN Variava (both retired).
“It would be difficult to accept the contention of the accused’s counsel that the liberal interpretation given by HC is justified as it affects the personal liberty of a citizen who is yet to be tried,” the Bench said. “In our view, considering the legislative intent of curbing the practice of giving bail on technical ground in a crime which adversely affects the entire society and the object of making stringent provisions for control of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, there is no reason to accept the construction of the section which its language can hardly bear, the Judges added.
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