Supreme Court: In an appeal filed by Union Government against the bail order passed by Bombay High Court, granting bail to Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty, the division bench of AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh, JJ. has agreed to keep open the question of law regarding interpretation of Section 27A of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) and disposed of the government’s appeal while clarifying that the Bombay High Court’s interpretation of the provisions of the NDPS Act will not be treated as a precedent in any other cases.
The accused persons had filed bail applications before the Bombay High Court after their bail pleas were rejected by a Special NDPS Court in Mumbai. The High Court had granted bail to Rhea Chakraborty, Dipesh Sawant and Samuel Miranda but rejected the bail pleas of Abdul Parihar and Showik Chakraborty. Thus, the Government appealed to the Supreme Court against the said bail order.
The Central Government told the Bench that it will not challenge the bail granted to Rhea Chakraborty in the cases registered against her under the NDPS Act. However, the Bombay High Court’s interpretation of Section 27A of the NDPS Act, under which a person can be sent to jail for a maximum of 20 years for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders, should be kept open for challenge at an appropriate time.
Source: Press
