12 January 2024 Bail and Antcipatory Bail >> Criminal Law   |   FIR >> Criminal Law  

In a recent development, a court in India has denied bail to Loyangamba, an individual arrested for possessing a significant quantity of opium - 50 kilograms to be precise. The case falls under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act).

Interestingly, the bail denial comes despite the chargesheet lacking a crucial piece of evidence - a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report. He claimed this makes the chargesheet incomplete, entitling him to default bail.

The court, however, rejected the argument. It cited previous judgments, including Mohd Arbaz vs. State of NCT of Delhi, where the Supreme Court granted bail in similar cases but did not rule on the completeness of a chargesheet lacking an FSL report.

Another relevant judgement was Suleman vs. State (NCT of Delhi) by the same court. This judgement established that not having an FSL report with the chargesheet doesn't qualify it as incomplete for purposes of default bail.

The court reasoned that the Supreme Court's bail order in Mohd Arbaz wasn't based on the completeness of the chargesheet. Additionally, there's no general direction from the Supreme Court for granting default bail in such cases.

As a result, Loyangamba's application for bail was dismissed.

  Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985