UNION OF INDIA Vs. MOHAMMAD SHAMIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) D. K. Trivedi, J. The present ap plication has been moved by the Union of India through the Narcotics Commis sioner Lucknow, for cancellation of bail granted to opposite party Mohammad Shamim by the learned Sessions Judge, Barabanki, on 7-10-1993.

(2.) THE main thrust of the learned Counsel for the applicant Shri I. B. Singh is that the learned Sessions Judge granted bail to Mohammad Shamim in utter dis regard to the provisions of Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and, therefore, the order of" bail is, on the face of it, illegal. According to the case of the prosecution, on receipt of some information the house of Hafiz Shah was searched and in the presence of his son Mohammad Shamim opposite party, 330 gram Heroin was found. A bail application on behalf of opposite party was moved before the learned Sessions Judge and the learned Sessions Judge granted bail to the opposite party mainly on the ground that admittedly in the house in question other persons were also residing and at the said stage it was not clear as to from whose possession the Heroin was recovered. It has also been mentioned by the learned Sessions Judge that all the three public witnesses before whom the recovery was made have filed affidavits to the effect that no heroin was recovered from the house of the opposite, party. Before dealing with the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act it is neces sary to point out that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was enacted with the object of curbing illicit drug trafficking as well as illegal trafficking of Narcotics. For this purpose several acts were enacted but with the passage of time and with the developments in the field of illicit trafficking, at the National as well as International level, several short-comings came to be noticed and, therefore, it was found necessary to enact the present law in order to meet the challenge of illegal traf ficking of Narcotics as well as to check the well organised gangs of smugglers. In fact, after the Convention regarding suppres sion of illicit drug trafficking held in 1988 in Vienna, certain decisions were taken and in compliance of the said Internation al decisions Section 32-A and Section 37 etc. have been added in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. By ad ding Section 37, the Legislature made it obligatory on the Court to consider the provisions of Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act before granting bail under the N. D. P. S. Act.