Vehicle Owner Not on Spot, No Material He Permitted Its Use: Rajasthan High Court Grants NDPS Bail

The applicant was arrested in a case registered at Police Station Balotra for offences under Sections 8/18 and 25 of the NDPS Act and sought bail under Section 439 CrPC (para 1). On 15.12.2022 a co-accused was apprehended carrying opium in a Scorpion vehicle; the applicant, as its owner, was sought to be made liable under Section 25 (para 2). His counsel submitted that the vehicle was misused in his absence while he was in hospital with dengue at Kalyanpur from 14 to 16.12.2022 and then in Ahmedabad until 22.12.2022 (para 3). The State submitted that the contraband was of commercial quantity, that Section 37 applied and that he was a drug peddler (para 4).

The Court noted that the applicant was not arrested from the spot with the contraband (para 6). He was not even the registered owner of the vehicle and was implicated on the basis of a purchase agreement (para 6). Whether the driver transported the contraband without his knowledge, permission or consent would be a serious debatable issue at trial (para 6). At this stage, however, nothing on record suggested that he had permitted the use of his vehicle for an offence under the Act, so its use by the principal accused was prima facie not within his knowledge (para 6). The medical record prima facie showed that he was suffering from dengue and was in hospital elsewhere in the days before and after the incident (para 6). The earlier bail-rejection order showed that he was not involved in any other NDPS case, and the trial was likely to take considerable time (para 7). Without going into the merits, the Court held that the rigour of Section 37 was duly satisfied: the applicant had substantial grounds to question the prosecution case, and no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in detention for an indefinite period (para 7).