In a strongly-worded order, single-judge Justice Ranjan Sharma said even a suspect or an accused under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) does not have any vested right or an automatic claim for anticipatory bail or regular bail, merely on the ground that the quantity of contraband, allegedly involved, is either small or intermediate.
“Such drug peddlers, who involved in small or intermediate quantity of contraband, are the termites in the society. It is high time that while considering the bail application of such bail petitioners, who resort to small quantity or intermediate quantity trafficking etc. needs, to be dealt with by iron hands,” the Court.
The Court, therefore, rejected the anticipatory bail application of a drug peddler.
“The Courts cannot feign ignorance that it is the modus operandi of Drug Mafia’s or Master-minds or King Pins of such trade, who primarily act through persons who are either indigent or poor or are unemployed or have unwarranted and unexpected financial expectations or who are suffers of financial liability etc., by initially alluring them to act as small peddlers towards trafficking of small and intermediate quantity of contraband, with the predesigned calculation that they may have an easy escape, even if they are apprehended in view of the quantity being small or intermediate,” the court said.
There are endless instances where such peddlers have turned out to be habitual offenders, involved in numerous cases under NDPS Act and under other Statutes, which becomes an important ingredient while examining claim for bail, the judge noted.
“Enlarging such persons on bail, shall certainly amount to sacrificing the State and of course the nation to such nefarious activists. To attain the objective of the NDPS Act and to ensure the rule of law, such persons who are prima facie involved in nefarious drug abuse, such person have no vested right to be enlarged on bail under the pretext of alleged claim of violation of their liberty in Article 21,” the single-judge said in his order.
The plea of seeking bail, claiming violation of personal liberty is a farce when the liberty of a person ends where liberty of another including the society at large is in sought to be or actually violated, the Court made it clear.
The Court further opined that granting bail to such persons means adding wings to their flight and giving them leverage.
“Such persons are bent upon, not only to destroy the society at large but are exploiting the youth in the prime of their life, by depriving them of their youth, by curtailing fundamental right to live with dignity, by adversely affecting the health of such a person-who falls prey to such illegal activities. Such drug peddlers, who are involved in small or intermediate quantity of contraband, are the termites in the society,” the judge underscored.
Source: Barandbench
