ORDER :

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.S.DIAS

Does an accused have the right to seek for the expeditious testing of the seized drugs/substances under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of 1985?

2. The accused 1 to 4 in Crime No.291/2023 of the Kattoor Police Station, Thrissur, have individually filed these applications under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to enlarge them on bail. The petitioners were arrested on 6.4.2023.

3. The factual matrix of the prosecution case is that: on 6.4.2023, at around 16.20 hours, 14.84 grams of “MDMA” (methylenedioxy methamphetamine) was seized from the accused 1 to 4 at the residence of the first accused at Pullathara Desom, Karalam Panchayat. The accused were arrested on the spot with the contraband substance and, thereby, they have committed the offences under Sections 20 (b) and 20 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (in short, ‘NDPS Act’) read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

4. When the applications came up for consideration on 25.7.2023, this Court, after analysing Rule 14 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Seizure, Storage, Sampling and Disposal) Rules, 2022 (‘Rules