Last Updated on June 20, 2024 by Satish Mishra
Compliance of Section 50 of the NDPS Act while Making an Arrest
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 prevents any person tomanufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, and consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. Its main objective is to combine and amend the existinglaws relating to Narcotic Drug and to develop strict provision for the control and regulation of any acts relating to Narcotic Drugs and psychotropic substances.
To arrest a person under the NDPS Act, police need to comply with certain provisions as mentioned in Section 50 of the NDPS Act.
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Section 50 of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 reads as follows:
Conditions under which search of persons shall be conducted.
(1) When any officer duly authorized under section 42 is about to search any person under the provisions of section 41, section 42 or section 43, he shall, if such person so requires, take such person without unnecessary delay to the nearest Gazetted Officer of any of the departments mentioned in section 42 or to the nearest Magistrate.
(2) If such requisition is made, the officer may detain the person until he can bring him before the Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate referred to in sub-section (1).
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(3) The Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate before whom any such person is brought shall if he sees no reasonable ground for search, forthwith discharge the person but otherwise shall direct that search be made.
(4) No female shall be searched by anyone excepting a female.
(5) When an officer duly authorized under section 42 has reason to believe that it is not possible to take the person to be searched to the nearest Gazetted Officer or Magistrate without the possibility of the person to be searched parting with possession of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, or controlled substance or article or document, he may, instead of taking such person to the nearest Gazetted Officer or Magistrate, proceed to search the person as provided under section 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).
(6) After a search is conducted under sub-section (5), the officer shall record the reasons for such belief which necessitated such search and within seventy-two hours send a copy thereof to his immediate official superior.
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In a recent case, a man was acquitted by the judge for non-compliance of Section 50 of the NDPS Act.Following are the facts of the case:
- The court of additional district and sessions judge, Rajesh Sharma, on Wednesday, acquitted a 25-year old man in a 2017 case of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), after the prosecution failed to prove the case.
- The man identified as Happy of MauliJagran Complex was booked on December 20, 2017, under Section 22 (contravention in relation to psychotropic substances) of the NDPS Act.
- The defense argued the contraband was planted and police failed to follow the procedure under Section 50 of the NDPS Act wherein the accuse had to be served a notice and recoveries were to be made in presence of a magistrate or a gazetted officer.
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Section 22 of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the punishment for contravention in relation to psychotropic substances is defined. Whoever, in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rule or order made or condition of the licence granted thereunder, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses any psychotropic substance shall be punishable.
However, Section 50 of the NDPSAct,defines the duties, obligation and the powers given to the authorities and also defines that the compliance of requirements of the said Section is mandatory. In the case of State of Punjab vs. Baldev Singh, it was held that the provisions of Section 50 must strictly comply.
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It isimperative for the Police Officer to describe the rights of the person who is searched under Section 50. It was also held that it is mandatory on the part of the authorized officer to make the suspect aware of the existence of his right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate.
Therefore, looking at the facts of the present case, the Apex Court stated that as there was non-compliance with the mandatory procedure prescribed under Section 50 of NDPS Act, the appellant was entitled to claim the benefit to seek his acquittal.
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Rest, you must consult top/best/expert NDPS lawyer/advocate in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Zirakpur Kharar Derbassi & Punjab and Haryana High Court for your matter.
This post is written by Damini Aggarwal of Punjab University (2020 batch). For more info on subject, please dial 99888-17966.
