[NDPS Act] Merely Filing Chargesheet Has No Persuasive Value, Does Not Entitle Accused To Bail: Tripura High Court

The accused/respondent was granted bail by the Special Trial Court in a case arising out of the NDPS Act. The State/petitioner challenged the bail granted by the Trial Court and prayed for its cancellation. The State/petitioner contended that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the accused has not committed the offence and that the Special Court erred in granting bail to him.

Whereas, the accused/respondent relied on Section 37 of the NDPS Act, which provides conditions under which an accused may be released on bail. The accused claimed that Section 37 NDPS Act nowhere suggests that after the filing of the chargesheet, the accused can be kept in custody. Therefore, the Special Court was correct in granting bail to the accused after filing of the chargesheet.

Examining Section 37 of the NDPS Act, Justice Arindam Lodh asserted that for the grant of bail to the accused under the NDPS Act, the Court or the Public Prosecutor must be satisfied that there is reasonable ground to believe that the accused is not guilty of committing the alleged offence.

The Court stated that under the NDPS Act, bail is an exception and not a rule.

“Learned Special Judge…has not kept in mind that granting of bail to an accused of committing offences under the penal provisions of the NDPS Act is an exception and bail is not a rule.”

The Court thus noted that mere filing of chargesheet is not a ground to grant bail to an accused. It held “On careful consideration of the above enunciation of law, I can easily hold that mere filing of charge-sheet is not a ground at all or has no persuasive value to grant bail to an accused of allegedly committing offence under the penal provisions of NDPS Act.”

In the present case, the Court was of the opinion that there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of committing the alleged offences.

The High Court thus quashed the bail granted to the accused and directed the accused to surrender before the Special Trial Court.

Case title: The State of Tripura vs. Mijanur Rahaman, B.A. 30/2024

Citation: 2024 Live Law (Trip) 6