This present petition was made under section 439 code of criminal procedure i.e., Special powers of the High Court or Court of Session regarding bail. They may direct that any person accused of an offense and in custody be released on regular bail. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, commonly referred to as the NDPS Act, is an act of the Indian parliament that prohibits a person in the production, manufacturing, cultivation, possession, sale, purchasing, transport, storage, and consumption of any narcotic drugs or psychotropic substance . The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 23 August 1985. This judgment and the final order were given in the high court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh on the 9th of July 2021 in the case of Man Singh Verma v/s state of Punjab CRM-M-13334-2021, the judgment given by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, Mr. G.S. Verma, represented as the advocate for the petitioner and Mr. Dhruv Dayal represented for the state of Punjab.
The following are the facts of the case, the petitioner was convicted under Section 18 in The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 “Punishment for contravention in relation to opium poppy and opium. Whoever, in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rule or order made or condition of the license granted thereunder, cultivates the opium poppy or produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses opium shall be punishable.” And Section 61 of the NDPS act “Confiscation of goods used for concealing illicit drugs or substances or narcotic drug, psychotropic substance or controlled substance.” And Section 85 of the NDPS act on 25th of December 2020 in the FIR no.90 at the police station maloud in the district of Khanna. According to the counsel for the petitioner (Mr. G.S. Verma ), there were two members accused, one (petitioner) was accused of the possession of 1kg 600 grams of opium which amounts to be of non – commercial quantity.
However, it was found that one kg of opium was recovered from the co-accused (Ramesh Kumar), it has been noted only on combing these two together would constitute to commercial quantity. The contraband items were being carried in two separate bags and therefore should be treated as separate. The one Mr. Ramesh Kumar (co-accused) has already been granted a regular bail under section 439 of crpc in CRM-M-21008 of 2021, on 28.06.2021. The counsel of the petitioner emphasizes that the petitioner aged 24 has never been involved in any case in relation to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substances act and now after this recovery he has been held in custody for over six months.
Therefore, the court held that the petitioner (24 years of age) has been locked up for 6 months for the possession of non-commercial quantity however he has never previously been in possession of contraband items or involved in any case under the NDPS act and since the co-accused (Ramesh Kumar) has also been granted bail, the court held it valid to grant regular bail to the petitioner under section 439 of crpc. The court concluded that “Therefore, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the petition is allowed. The petitioner is ordered to be released on regular bail on his furnishing requisite bonds to the satisfaction of the Trial Court/Duty Magistrate concerned.”
