Petitioner sought regular bail in an NDPS case for recovery of poppy husk as a car driver. The court held that recovery of commercial quantity attracted Section 37 of the NDPS Act, precluding bail. Bail petition dismissed.
Petitioner's bail petition dismissed; exemption from filing copies of documents granted.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Crl. Misc. No. M-2458 of 2013 --1--
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH
Crl. Misc. No.M- 2458 of 2013(O&M) Date of Decision: 24.01.2013
Gurpreet Singh
..... Petitioner
Versus
The State of Punjab
.... Respondent
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJENDER SINGH MALIK
Present:Mr. Jaswinder Singh,Advocate for the petitioner.
VIJENDER SINGH MALIK, J.
Crl. Misc. No.4674 of 2013
Miscellaneous application is allowed. Documents i.e.
Annexures P-1 and P-2 are taken on record and the petitioner is granted exemption from filing copies thereof.
Crl. Misc. No. M-2458 of 2013 --2--
Crl. Misc. No.M-2458 of 2013
Gurpreet Singh, the petitioner seeks regular bail in a case registered by way of FIR No. 77 dated 06.08.2012 at Police Station Chhajli, District Sangrur, for an offence punishable under section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(for short the Act).
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner had been driver of the car from the boot of which contraband has been recovered. According to him, the said car belonged to one Suresh Aggarwal. He has further submitted that the provisions of section 50 of the Act have also not been complied with in this case. He has further submitted that it is a case of recovery of poppy husk, which is marginally above the commercial quantity and since the petitioner is in custody since 06.08.2012, he is entitled to bail.
The first aspect that becomes evident is that the contraband recovered is in commercial quantity. 54 kilograms of poppy husk has been recovered in this case from the boot of the car. The petitioner has been driver of the said car and it is unbelievable that he cannot come to know about the position of the boot of the car he was driving. The recovery is, moreover, not from personal search and the question as to whether section 50 of the Act has been complied with or not recedes into insignificance.
Crl. Misc. No. M-2458 of 2013 --3--
In these circumstances, since the contraband recovered in this case is in commercial quantity, the provisions of section 37
of the Act would stand attracted and the petitioner could not be held entitled to bail.
The petition is, consequently, dismissed.
January 24, 2013 (VIJENDER SINGH MALIK) dinesh JUDGE
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the petitioner is entitled to bail given the recovery of poppy husk in commercial quantity.
Whether provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act attract in cases involving commercial quantities of contraband.
2 provisions across 1 enactments
Gurpreet Singh
The State of Punjab
Vijender Singh Malik
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
