1,200 Alprazolam Tablets: Supreme Court Grants Bail to Accused With No Antecedents After 20 Months in Custody

The appellant is an accused in FIR No. 56/2025 registered at Police Station Chhawni, District Durg, for the offence under Section 21(c) of the NDPS Act (para 3). According to the prosecution, on 01.02.2025 the police received secret information that he and others were selling narcotic tablets using a Pulsar motorcycle; in the raid that followed, four boxes holding 8 strips each of alprazolam tablets, 1,200 tablets in all, were recovered from his possession (para 4). The prosecution alleges a commercial quantity (para 4). He appealed against the Chhattisgarh High Court's order of 17.10.2025 in MCRC No. 8399/2025.

Having heard both sides and perused the records, the Court relied on three circumstances: the appellant has no criminal antecedents, the chargesheet has been filed, and the trial is in progress (para 7). On that basis it held that he was entitled to be released on bail (para 7). The fact that he had been in custody since 01.02.2025, more than 20 months by the date of the order, also persuaded the Court to grant the prayer (para 7). The order records, but does not decide, the appellant's pleas that Sections 42 and 50 were not complied with, that no independent witness was associated with a recovery from a public place and that he was the registered owner of the seized motorcycle, and the State's reliance on conscious possession (paras 5-7). It does not discuss Section 37 of the NDPS Act and cites no precedent.