Applicability Of Section 27A Is Seriously Questionable: Supreme Court Upholds Bail Granted To NDPS Accused
Case: State of West Bengal vs Rakesh Singh @ Rakesh Kumar Singh
Coram: Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose
Case No.: CrA 923 OF 2022
Court Observation: “Suffice it to observe for the present purpose that in the given set of facts and circumstances, the High Court has rightly found that applicability of Section 27A NDPS Act is seriously questionable in this case. That being the position; and there being otherwise no recovery from the respondent and the quantity in question being also intermediate quantity, the rigours of Section 37 NDPS Act do not apply to the present case”
“Although, the past history of the respondent and even his conduct in relation to the processes concerning the present case give rise to a few questions but, the strong countervailing factor in the present case is the prima facie indication that he is being sought to be framed by concoctions and baseless stories. Another factor noticeable is that the respondent has not been involved in any NDPS Act case or any akin offence in the past. Interestingly, it is noticed from the material placed on record that nothing of any contraband article has been recovered from the respondent or from any place under his exclusive control. This factor further adds on to the doubt as to whether the respondent had at all been indulgent in narcotics or any contraband? That being the position, the view as taken by the High Court cannot be said to be an altogether unacceptable or impossible view of the matter. Moreover, it cannot be said that the respondent was consciously seeking to abscond on 23.02.2021 merely because he was found in the night at Purba Bardhaman and not at Kolkata. In any case, the aspect relating to tendency to flee has been duly taken care of with the conditions as imposed by the High Court. The other submissions with reference to the decision in the case of Prasanta Kumar Sarkar (supra) hardly make out a case for interference particularly looking to the nature of evidence sought to be adduced by the prosecution against the respondent. In this regard, we would hasten to observe that apart from the stringent conditions already imposed by the High Court, it is always open for the prosecution to seek imposition of any further condition or even to seek cancellation of the bail granted to the respondent, in case of any fault on his part in due adherence to the conditions already imposed.”
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