Supreme Court: In an appeal against the judgment and order passed by Rajasthan High Court, wherein the Court dismissed the bail application of the accused for offences under the provisions of Sections 8 and 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (‘NDPS Act’), the division bench of Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi, JJ. has set aside the impugned judgment and directed that the accused be released on bail. Further, it directed the accused to not go beyond the Alwar District, Rajasthan without leave of the Special Court, and directed him to make available his location through mobile phone by pairing it with the mobile phone of the investigating officer round the clock.
The Court noted that the alleged recovery from the accused is about 35 kg and 150 g of Doda Posh (Poppy straw). The commercial quantity for poppy straw is 50 kg. The accused has been in custody for over seven months. Charge sheet has been submitted in the case.
Further, it said that the recovered contraband item having weight less than the stipulated commercial quantity, the restriction on grant of bail under Section 37 of the Act does not apply in this case. Thus, continued detention pending trial is not necessary in the given circumstances.
Editorial Note: The Supreme Court in Directorate of Enforcement v. Raman Bhuraria1, remarked that it will consider whether sharing location as a bail condition could be permitted in view of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Thereafter, it orally remarked that imposing a bail condition requiring accused to drop his location pin is prima facie violative of his right to privacy. The matter has been posted to December for further consideration.
[Puranmal Jat v State of Rajasthan, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1418, Order dated 02-11-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner(s) : Advocate-On-Record Namit Saxena, Advocate Ritu Sharma, Advocate Awnish Maithani, Advocate Shivam Raghuwanshi
For Respondent(s): Advocate Vikas Chaudhary, Advocate Neha Kapoor, Advocate-On-Record Milind Kumar
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1. Diary No. 23447-2023
