The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the constitutional right to a speedy trial under article 21 of the constitutions of India cannot be used to unilaterally bypass the mandatory rigors of section 37 of the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS ) 1987.
the court noted that judicial satisfaction regarding the “twin conditions” , reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and is unlikely to commit further offences , is a mandatory jurisdictional pre-condition for granting Bail in cases involving commercial quantities of contraband
justice Sanjay karol and justice Augustine George Masih while setting aside the bail orders granted by the Punjab and Haryana high court, observed,…
Senior Advocate Arvind Singh Sangwan appeared for the appellant and Karan Sharma , AOR appeared for the responded.
Background
The case arose from an FIR registered on January 10, 2024 at police station khalra in Punjab tarn taran district. Charges where framed under sections 21(c)and 29 of the NDPS act.
Supreme Court Analysis
The supreme court held that in cases involving commercial quantity of contraband ,the twin conditions under section 37(1) of the NDPS act are mandatory and must be a satisfied before Bail can be granted.
there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of the offence
the accused is not likely to commit any offence while on bail .
Criticising the high court’s ordered the supreme court observed :
Can High court Exempt Convict Before Entertaining Appeal?
The supreme court recently referred to a larger bench the issue of the weather high court can exempt a convict sentenced to imprisonment from surrendering before entertaining a criminal revision or appeal .
A bench of justice Pamidighantam sri Narasimha and justice Aalok refered the issue to a large bench in light of conflicting positions taken by coordinate benches.
Judgement :
The supreme court, after a details analysis , allow the appeal and set aside the bail order passed by the High Court.
At the core of the judgement lies the interpretation of section 37 of the NDPS act. The court found that the high court had field to record any satisfactions regarding these twin conditions. It had processed on the premise that the rigors of section 37 could be diluted in view of the delay in trial.
Referring to earlier judgements ,that court emphasized that the legislative intent behind the NDPS act is to combat the serious threat posed by drug trafficking . therefore, courts must Adhere to them strictly.
the supreme court set aside the high court’s order granting Bail and directed the accused persons to surrender before the trial court within one week .
the judgement serves as a reaffirmation of the principal that the statutory conditions , especially in special laws dealing with series of offences must be strictly complied with.
