GAUHATI HIGH COURT: ALONGSIDE EMBARGO OF SECTION 37 NDPS ACT, UNDUE DELAY IN TRIAL CAN BE A GROUND FOR GRANT OF BAIL

The Gauhati High Court in the case Anil Malakar v. The State of Assam observed and has granted bail to an accused arrested for an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, NDPS Act while considering that there was no plausible ground to believe that he was guilty of the offence.

The bench headed by Justice Arun Dev Choudhury in the case observed that alongside the embargo placed by Section 37 of NDPS Act, thus, the ground of undue delay in trial can be a ground for granting bail, inasmuch as the court is to come to the satisfaction that there is no likelihood of completion of trial in near future.

The bench stated that such ground of inordinate delay shall depend on the facts of the each case and the cause of delay is also required to be noted down.

The court in the case observed that as per the prosecution case, 29.030 kg of Ganja was recovered from Agartala Deodhar Express, but no suspect was initially found.

Later, the petitioner was implicated based on statement of two witnesses recorded as stated under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.