"Unheard of": Supreme Court on grant of anticipatory bail in NDPS cases

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its surprise at the Calcutta High Court granting anticipatory bail to multiple accused in connection with a drugs case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) [Anarul SK v State of West Bengal].

A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Aravind Kumar and KV Viswanathan said that grant of anticipatory bail in NDPS cases was unheard of.

"Anticipatory bail in an NDPS case? Unheard of. We will issue notice and ask the State to consider moving bail cancellation applications," Justice Gavai remarked.

The Court then issued notice to the West Bengal government and sought its response within four weeks.

The Bench was hearing an appeal against a July 8 order of the High Court, refusing anticipatory bail to one of the accused (petitioner).

The counsel for the petitioner pointed out that several co-accused had been granted anticipatory bail in the matter, and thus sought parity.

The apex court then proceeded to express its surprise and sought the State's response.

The appeal was filed through advocate Abhijit Sengupta.

The Supreme Court in its 2021 decision in Union of India v. Md. Nawaz Khan had observed that given the seriousness of offences under the NDPS Act, stringent parameters have been prescribed for grant of bail.

Like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the NDPS prevents bail from being granted ex-parte and without prima facie satisfaction that the accused is innocent and unlikely to commit further offences.

The Allahabad High Court had recently ruled that the restrictions on the grant of bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act do not apply to constitutional courts but only to trial courts.