The Himachal Pradesh High Court has granted bail to an accused in a case pertaining to the NDPS Act after noting that the Investigating Officer mixed the contents of the backpack and the samples were taken from such mixed contents. The High Court also found that the packets were not sent individually to determine whether they contained opium or not.

The petitioner approached the High Court seeking regular bail in a case registered under Sections 18 & 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

The Single Judge Bench of Justice Rakesh Kainthla asserted, “The Investigating Officer had mixed the contents of the backpack and had weighed them together. The samples were taken from the mixed contents of the backpack. The status report does not mention that the sample was representative and homogeneous. The packets were also not sent individually to determine whether they contained opium or not. Thus, it is highly doubtful that the samples were taken from the contents of the backpack recovered near the feet of the petitioner.”

“Therefore, in these circumstances, it is difficult to conclude that the petitioner was found in possession of a commercial quantity of opium. Hence, the submission that the rigours of Section 37 of NDPS apply to the present case is not acceptable”, it added.

Advocate Ajay Sipahiya represented the Petitioner, while Additional Advocate General Jitender Sharma represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The petitioner is a Nepali national who was arrested on April 27, 2025. As per the prosecution, the police had recovered 2.544 kgs of opium from the backpack kept near the feet of the petitioner and 5.64 kgs of opium kept near the co-accused.

Arguments

It was the petitioner’s case that there were discrepancies in the weight. It was further claimed that the recovery was effected from a bus, and exclusive possession of the petitioner was not established. It was the petitioner’s case that the police claimed recovery of 8.184 kgs of opium; however, the weight of the contraband was found to be 8.216 kgs during the proceedings under Section 52A of the NDPS Act. It was argued that 9 pouches were mixed, and this defeated the provision of taking a representative sample.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the police checked the backpacks and recovered 2.544 kgs of opium from the backpack kept near the feet of the petitioner and 5.640 kgs of opium from the backpack kept near the feet of the coaccused, kept in pouches. All the pouches were weighed together, and their weight was found to be 8.184 kgs. These were sealed together in one cloth parcel. These parcels were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Solan and samples were obtained from the parcel.

It was noticed that the status report did not mention that the samples were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), and the report of the analysis found the sample to be of opium. The Bench took note of the fact that the status report was silent regarding the fact that the petitioner was found in possession of the opium.

The Bench also found that the samples were taken from the mixed contents of the backpack and it was highly doubtful that the samples were taken from the contents of the backpack recovered near the feet of the petitioner. Thus, accepting the plea that the petitioner had no criminal antecedents and the status report did not provide any reasons for the petitioner’s pre-trial detention, the Bench allowed the Petition.

The Bench thus ordered the petitioner to be released on bail subject to her furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs 1,00,000 with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Trial Court.

Cause Title: Shiranjana Buddha v. State of Himachal Pradesh ( Neutral Citation: 2025:HHC:39626)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocates Ajay Sipahiya, Tarun Mehta

Respondent: Additional Advocate General Jitender Sharma

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Himachal Pradesh High Court

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.