2011 Supreme(Bom) 185
2012 (1) ALL MR 482
High Court of Judicature at Bombay
J.H. BHATIA
Union of India
Versus
Jagdish Singh & Others
CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.1405 OF 2010 WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.5718 OF 2010 WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.5719 OF 2010 WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.5722 OF 2010 WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.5725 OF 2010 WITH CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.5726 OF 2010
Decided on : 17-02-2011
For the Applicant: F.E. Saldanha, Ms. Revati Mohite Dere alongwith Ms. Smita Deokar & Mandar Goswami, Spl. P.P.
For the Respondents:R1, Anil G.Lalla alongwith Sunil Ghadge, Ayaz Khan, Ms. Sartaj Shaikh, Dilip Mishra, Advocates, R2, Ms. A.T. Javeri, A.P.P.
Headnote:(A) Indian Evidence Act , 1872---Section 105---Burden of proof---Burden will lie on that person to prove circumstances and the facts which would bring his case within the exception---When a person is accused of an offence, burden of proving existence and circumstances bringing the case within any special exception or proviso contained in any law defining the offence is upon him and Court shall presume the absence of such circumstances. (Para 11)
(B) Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985---Sections 8, and 22--- Licence under the provisions of NDPS Act and Rules is necessary for dealing in Psychotropic Substances---One should have necessary licence under the provisions of NDPS Act and Rules for dealing in Psychotropic Substances. (Para 20)
1. All these applications are filed by the Union of India seeking cancellation of bail granted to accused nos.1 to 6 by the learned Special Judge by different orders.
2. According to the prosecution on the basis of specific information received, the officers of the Narcotics Central Bureau, Mumbai Zonal Unit, Mumbai intercepted accused no.1 – Jagdish Singh, accused no.2 – Harvinder Singh and accused no.3 – Harjinder Ram near the Oberoi Mall, Goregaon (East), Mumbai when they arrived there in Toyota Innova car bearing registration No.PB-10-CJ2414. They delivered the contraband to taxi driver – Veer Bahadur Singh, who is accused no.4 The taxi driver had come by taxi No.MH-01-X-5483 for taking delivery of the contraband. On interception 25 kgs. of Methamphetamine was recovered. After completing the formalities it was seized, samples were taken. The statements of accused nos.1 to 4 were recorded under section 67 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short hereinafter referred as “NDPS Act”) on 9th June, 2009. It was revealed that accused nos.1 to 3 had brought the said contraband from Punjab by car and it was to be delivered to accused no.5 – Anil Kumar Menon. Accused no.4, taxi driver – Veer Bahadur Singh had come near the Oberoi Mall to receive that consignment for and on behalf of accused no.5 – Anil Kumar Menon. During interrogation, in the statements of accused no.4 – Veer Bahadur Singh it was revealed that accused no.5 – Anil Menon and accused no.6 - G.Samuel @ Anna use to provide strategic and logistic support for export of the drugs to Cambodia. The statements of accused no.6 – G.Samuel @ Anna was also recorded under section 67 and he also confirmed this fact.Initially, the crime was registered bearing No.NCB/BZU/CR/09/2009. The samples were sent to forensic laboratory and after getting the report it was confirmed that the samples were Methamphetamine. The complaint was filed in the court of Special Judge, Mumbai on 4th December, 2009 and it came to be registered as NDPS Special Case No.152 of 2009.
3. First of all, accused no.1 – Jagdish Singh filed bail application No.237 of 2009 which was rejected by learned Special Judge as per the order dated 16th November, 2009. Thereafter, he filed another application for bail relying on certain authorities of this court as well as from different High courts and Supreme Court. His main contention was that even though Methampethamine is shown as psychotropic substance in schedule to the NDPS Act, it was not shown in schedule I to the NDPS Rules and, therefore, possession or transportation of Methampethamine could not be an offence. After hearing the parties the learned Special Judge granted bail to him by the order dated 3.3.2010. That order is sought to be set aside and cancelled by the Union of India. It may be noted that initially this court had granted stay to implementation of the bail order. That order was challenged before the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the order of stay passed by this court while the application for cancellation of bail continues to be pending before this court. After accused no.1 – Jagdish Singh was granted bail, accused nos.2 to 6 also filed different applications for bail before the learned Special Judge who by orders dated 12.10.2010 granted bail to each of them. The Union of India has challenged those orders and seeks cancellation of bail.
4. Prosecution has challenged the grant of bail by the Special Judge on the ground that the Methamphetamine is a psychotropic substance as defined in Section 2(xxiii) as it is shown at Serial No.19 in the Schedule of the NDPS Act. It is contended that Section 8(c) provides that no person shall produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or transship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, except for medical or scientif