Rajasthan High Court Refuses DRI Plea to Cancel Bail in Hydroponic Weed Case Below Commercial Quantity

The Special Judge, NDPS Cases, Jaipur Metropolitan-I, Jaipur, granted bail to the two respondents by an order of 03.02.2025 in Bail Applications No. 86/25 and 91/25 (para 1). The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence challenged that order under Section 483(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (para 1). It contended that the trial court had not considered the restrictions in Section 37 of the NDPS Act and that the 3.727 kg of hydroponic weed recovered was more than small quantity (para 2). It cited three coordinate-bench orders: Indrajeet Kumar Nishad, Karan Mehra and Mir Shahid Hussain (para 4). The respondents replied that the quantity was below commercial quantity, so Section 37 was not attracted (para 3).

The Court framed the basic issue as whether the trial court had granted bail without considering the restrictions in Section 37 of the NDPS Act, and set out the provision (para 6). Under Section 37(1)(b), as quoted, the twin conditions apply to a person accused of offences under Sections 19, 24 or 27A, or of offences involving commercial quantity: the Public Prosecutor must have a chance to oppose release, and if he does, the court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and is not likely to offend while on bail (para 6). The Court then relied on the Supreme Court's order in Puranmal Jat v. State of Rajasthan, which released on bail an accused found with about 35 kg 150 g of poppy straw, below the 50 kg commercial quantity, because the Section 37 restriction does not apply where the recovery is less than commercial quantity (para 7). In view of Puranmal Jat, it found no merit in the challenge (para 8). The order does not separately discuss the three coordinate-bench orders cited for the Directorate, and records no finding on the quantity beyond the parties' positions (paras 2-4, 8).