MAHESH Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - The aforesaid four bail applications shall stand decided by this common order as the issue involved is identical.

(2.) These bail applications have been filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. The petitioner Mahesh in Bail Application No. 7976/2015 has been arrested in F.I.R. No. 140/2015, Police Station Muklawa, District Sri Ganganagar, petitioner Salvinder Singh @ Surendra in Bail Application No. 8164/2015 has been arrested in F.I.R. No. 476/2015, Police Station Sangaria, District Hanumangarh and petitioners Tarsam Kumar and Bhajan Lal in Bail Application No. 8454/2015 and petitioner Rajendra Singh in Bail Application No. 8308/2015 have been arrested in F.I.R. No. 230/2015, Police Station Keshrisinghpur, District Sri Ganganagar for the offences under Sections 8/21 & 22 of the N.D.P.S. Act and Sections 18(C), 27(B),(II) of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioners while praying for bail submitted that the matter is covered under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and that it has been wrongly registered under the N.D.P.S. Act, 1985. To support their argument, it was contended that as per the Notification dated 30.08.2013 issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the tablet Alprazolam has been added in Schedule - H1 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 2013 after deleting the same from Schedule-H, meaning thereby, that it cannot be sold without the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner and if it is, they will be covered under the Drugs Act. It was further contended that each tablet had the quantity of the contraband ingredients as specified and within the permissible limit and therefore, were being used only for medicinal purpose. It was further contended that even as per Rule 66 of the N.D.P.S. Rules, 1985, one could retain at least one hundred dosage units at a time without any prescription but beyond that and uptil three hundred dosage units, the prescription is required.