The Supreme Court on July 18 said that the Bombay high court ruling in actress Rhea Chakraborty’s case — that giving money to a person would not be considered as encouraging trafficking — would not be considered as a precedent while allowing the Narcotics Control Bureau’s plea not to challenge the bail granted to her.
At the outset of the hearing on NCB’s appeal, additional solicitor general S.V. Raju said that the government was not challenging her bail, and the legal issue regarding interpretation of section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act be left open for a decision at a later stage.
A bench of Justices A.S. Bopanna and M.M. Sundresh allowed the NCB’s plea and said, “At this stage, the challenge to the impugned order in so far as grant of bail is concerned may not be required. However, the question of law raised is left open to be considered in an appropriate case and, as such, the judgement may not be treated as precedent in any other case.”
While granting Rhea bail in October 2021, the Bombay high court had pointed to the anomaly in section 27A as the punishment for consumption of narcotic drugs was a maximum of one year or a fine of Rs. 20,000 but that for funding the purchase of drugs was imprisonment for 20 years. Justice Sarang V. Kotwal of the Bombay high court had then said, “I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the applicant (Rhea) is not guilty of any offence punishable under sections 19, 24 or 27A or any other offence involving commercial quantity. There are no other criminal antecedents against her.”