A Bag Is Not the Person: Supreme Court Sets Aside Section 50 Acquittal and Remits NDPS Appeal

The Sessions Judge, Balotra acquitted the respondent under Section 18 of the NDPS Act but convicted him under Section 17, sentencing him to ten years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of one lakh rupees (para 1). A Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur acquitted him, accepting that the mandatory requirement of Section 50 had not been complied with; many points had been urged, but non-compliance with Section 50 was the primary one (paras 1-2). The State appealed, pointing out that the search was not of the accused's person but of a bag that was with him (para 3).

The question was what the words search any person in Section 50(1) mean (para 5). Person is not defined in the NDPS Act, and the definitions in the Code, the Penal Code and the General Clauses Act do not help (para 6). Applying the rule that statutes are read in their plain, literal and grammatical sense, as stated in Jugalkishore Saraf, the Court held that a bag, briefcase or similar container can under no circumstances be treated as the body of a human being; such articles are carried by hand, on the shoulder, back or head, and cannot be included within the word person in Section 50 (paras 7-9). The Constitution Bench in Baldev Singh had said that Section 50 comes into play only on a search of a person (paras 10-11), and these aspects were highlighted in Pawan Kumar (para 12). In view of that three-judge decision the acquittal was clearly unsustainable (para 13). But the High Court had decided only the Section 50 point and had not examined the other grounds, so the matter was remitted for it to hear the appeal afresh on those grounds (para 13).