Rashidul Haque Vs the State of West Bengal — Narcotics (NDPS) | Calcutta HC (2026)

Rashidul Haque Vs the State of West Bengal — Narcotics (NDPS) | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Bail granted to Rashidul Haque on furnishing a bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one local), to the satisfaction of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 1st Court (NDPS), Coochbehar, subject to conditions: residence within the trial court's jurisdiction, appearance before the trial court on every hearing date, and no intimidation of witnesses or tampering with evidence; non-compliance without justifiable cause permits the trial court to cancel the bail. Case diary to be returned.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, from whom no contraband was recovered and whose name transpired only from the statement of a co-accused, is entitled to bail notwithstanding the statutory restriction under Section 37 of the NDPS Act.

Court's answer

Since the petitioner's name transpired from the statement of the co-accused and no recovery was made from the petitioner, the petitioner has rebutted the statutory restriction under Section 37 of the NDPS Act and is entitled to be released on bail.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bail granted — statutory restriction under S.37 NDPS Act rebutted where no recovery from accused and role known only through co-accused's statement. High Court at Calcutta (Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench), C.R.M. (NDPS) 518 of 2025, Suvra Ghosh, J., 16.02.2026: Application under S.439 CrPC read with S.483 BNSS, 2023 in Mathabhanga PS Case No. 172 of 2024 dated 30.03.2024 u/Ss.21(c)/29 NDPS Act allowed. Held: petitioner Rashidul Haque, from whom no contraband was recovered and whose name transpired from the statement of the co-accused, rebutted the S.37 restriction and was released on bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of like amount (one local) before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 1st Court (NDPS), Coochbehar, conditioned on residence within trial-court jurisdiction, attendance on every hearing date, and abstention from witness intimidation or tampering with evidence; breach without justifiable cause empowers the trial court to cancel bail; case diary returned.

16.02.2026 Item No.16 Ct.No.6 b.das Allowed

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS JURISDICTION

C.R.M. (NDPS) 518 of 2025

In Re : An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure read with Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Mathabhanga PS Case No. 172 of 2024 dated 30.03.2024 under Sections 21(c)/29 of the NDPS Act.

And
In Re : Rashidul Haque	... Petitioner
Mr. Subhasish Misra
Mr. Satyajit Paul
Mr. Raunak Ghosh	... for the Petitioner
Mr. Nilay Chakraborty
Mr. Bhaskar Das
Mr. Dhiman Sil	... for the State.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that no contraband article has been recovered from the petitioner and his name has transpired from the statement of the co accused.

Learned counsel for the State opposes the prayer.

I have considered the material on record.

In view of the fact that the petitioner’s name has transpired from the statement of the co accused and no recovery has been made from the petitioner, this Court is inclined to hold that the petitioner has been able to rebut the statutory restriction laid down under Section 37 of the NDPS Act and is entitled to be released on bail.

2

Accordingly prayer for bail is allowed.

The petitioner Rashidul Haque be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only), with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 1^st Court (NDPS), Coochbehar subject to condition that he shall reside within the jurisdiction of learned Trial Court and shall appear before the learned trial Court on every date of hearing. He shall not intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever.

In the event the petitioner fails to comply with any of the conditions as mentioned above without justifiable cause, the learned trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel his bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

The application for bail being CRM 518 of 2025 is, thus, disposed of.

Case Diary be returned.

Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Suvra Ghosh, J.)