Section 37 of NDPS Act not a fetter on grant of bail if there is undue delay in trial: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that though Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) places stringent tests for granting bail, it does not fetter the grant of bail if there is an undue delay in the completion of the trial against the accused [Vishwajeet Singh v State (NCT of Delhi)]..According to Section 37 of the NDPS Act, a court can grant bail to an accused in a drugs case only on being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he/she is not guilty of the offence and that the accused is also unlikely to commit any such offence after being released from jail..In an order pronounced on February 28, Justice Navin Chawla said that prolonged incarceration generally militates against the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, conditional liberty must override the statutory embargo on the grant of bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act, he held. “From the above [judgments cited], it is apparent that inspite of the stringent test to be met by the accused under Section 37 of the NDPS for being released on bail, it has been held that the same does not fetter grant of Bail to the accused on the ground of undue delay in the completion of trial. It has been held that prolonged incarceration generally militates against the right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and therefore, the conditional liberty must override the statutory embargo under Section 37 of the NDPS Act,” the Court said. .The Court made these observations while granting bail to two persons, Vishwajeet Singh and Dev Kumar @ Golu, who were caught with 12 kg ganja (cannabis) each.They were arrested in December 2020 and the trial court framed charges against them on December 7, 2021, under Section 20(c) read with Section 29 of the NDPS Act..Justice Chawla considered the case and noted that the trial against the accused was not likely to conclude anytime soon and that the accused men have been in jail for a long time.“I also notice that it is not the case of the prosecution that the Applicants are involved in any other case of similar nature or other criminal cases. The Applicants are stated to be young boys and their prolonged incarceration may itself result in the denial of their fundamental right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the Court added. The Court, therefore, granted bail to the accused..Advocate Satya Bhushan appeared for Vishwajeet Singh and Dev Kumar.Additional Public Prosecutor Aman Usman appeared for the State..[Read Judgment]