Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
Section 438 (Sec. 482 of BNSS, 2023)—Anticipatory bail—FIR registered under Sec. 8/21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act—Allegation against petitioner-accused is that thirty-five bottles of manufactured drug of 100 ML content each containing a narcotic substance Codine Phosphate in mixture came to be recovered and seized from him—As per the position of law standing at the time of the registration of the FIR, the actual content of the narcotic substance in a mixture was to be considered for the purpose of the computation of quantity whether being commercial or otherwise—Alleged recovered drug falls within an ambit of small quantity—Arrest of petitioner-accused at this stage in the offence under Section 21 of the NDPS Act despite his having been already arrested in the same FIR in 2010 will tantamount to gross deprivation of his fundamental right to life and liberty—Investigation Officer has not felt it necessary to arrest the petitioner-accused during a period of fifteen years subsequent to the addition of the offence under NDPS Act in the case FIR—Nothing on record to show that petitioner accused if admitted to bail will jump over the concession of the same—Interim pre-arrest bail granted.
[Paras 6 & 7]