NDPS Act

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur granted bail to the owner of a firm supplying scientific apparatus, accused in a CBN case over 2.021 kg of MD recovered from a co-accused (paras 2, 8, 12). Prima facie, his alleged role was confined to supplying scientific apparatus in the course of his business, his bona fides could not be ruled out, and nothing was recovered from him (para 10). For the limited purpose of bail, the Court held the Section 37 twin conditions satisfied (para 11).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur granted bail to two men accused in a case over 379.230 kg of poppy straw, a commercial quantity seized from two co-accused (paras 5, 8). Prima facie, nothing apart from the co-accused's statements connected them with the contraband: no call detail records or location details were collected, and nothing was recovered from them (paras 5-6). For the limited purpose of bail, the Court held the twin conditions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act satisfied (para 6).

The Supreme Court granted bail to a hotel owner in jail since 21.12.2023 in a Gujarat NDPS case in which the main accused was found with a commercial quantity of contraband in one of the hotel's rooms. Though his earlier special leave petition had been dismissed, the Court entertained a fresh one after the hotel's manager got bail, and released him as nothing was recovered from him and he had no criminal antecedents (paras 1-3).

The Supreme Court granted bail to a man accused under Section 21(c) of the NDPS Act after police allegedly recovered 1,200 alprazolam tablets from him in Durg, Chhattisgarh, a quantity the prosecution calls commercial (paras 3-4). In a brief order, the Court relied on his lack of criminal antecedents, the filing of the chargesheet, the trial being in progress and his custody since 01.02.2025 (para 7). It set aside the High Court's order and allowed his appeal.

The Rajasthan High Court granted bail to a medical-store owner charged by the Narcotics Control Bureau under Section 8/22(c) of the NDPS Act over psychotropic tablets. Holding that Section 37 is not an absolute embargo, it found that more than twenty months in custody with no likely early end to the trial violated the right to a speedy trial under Article 21, so conditional liberty must prevail (paras 1, 8-11).

The Supreme Court granted bail to a man held for almost a year in a 100 kg ganja case in Malkangiri, Odisha, because his arrest memo stated only that he was involved in the case. Merely saying so does not meet the requirement of Article 22(1) of the Constitution, the Court held, setting aside the Orissa High Court's refusal of bail (paras 10-12).