HC raps prosecution for ‘callous’ approach in opium seizure case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has termed as “callous” the prosecution’s conduct in a 4-kg opium seizure case while granting bail to an accused. The court made it clear that the delay in trial proceedings due to the prosecution’s indifference could not justify the continued incarceration of the accused for an indefinite period.

“Looking at the callous approach of the prosecution, it is evident that the conclusion of the trial will take long time for which the petitioner cannot be detained behind bars for an indefinite period,” observed Justice Sandeep Moudgil, while allowing regular bail plea in an NDPS case registered at the Mehna police station in Moga district.

The order comes at a time when the Punjab Police has issued a sweeping ultimatum to all district police chiefs and field officers to bring the availability of drugs to “zero” by May 31, warning that accountability will be fixed down to the SHO level.

In sharp contrast to the aggressive directives, the courts are increasingly finding themselves compelled to grant bail to accused under the NDPS Act—not on merits, but due to the prosecution’s inertia in bringing cases to trial.

The high court only recently passed scathing remarks in another NDPS matter, stating that the habitual failure of prosecution witnesses—primarily police personnel—to appear in court had become the norm, not the exception. The court had ordered the state to take immediate corrective steps, observing that the real threat to drug prosecutions was the state’s own repeated default.

Punjab