High Court: Anticipatory bail ‘rarity’ amid drug menace in state
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that anticipatory bail is a “rarity”, given the rampant drug menace in Punjab. Chief Justice Sheel Nagu of the high court also noted that an accused was, in any case, free to seek regular bail.
“This court is of the considered view that in the matters of this nature, in terms of the decision of the apex court in the case of ‘State of Haryana versus Samarth Kumar’, anticipatory bail is a rarity specially when the drug menace is rampant in the State of Punjab and the accused is always free to seek regular bail,” Chief Justice Nagu asserted, while hearing a pre-arrest bail plea in a drug case.
The decision is significant in the context of the general legal principle that “bail is a rule, jail is an exception”. The principle makes it clear that granting bail to an accused should be the standard practice to ensure personal liberty, as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.
Incarceration, on the other hand, should occur only in exceptional circumstances when there are compelling reasons to keep a person detained. But the court’s stance on anticipatory bail in the current matter reflects the need to balance the principle with larger interest of addressing serious issues like drug-related crimes.
The matter was placed before Chief Justice Nagu after a person filed a pre-arrest bail plea apprehending his arrest in a case registered under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on August 25 at the Sadar police station in Dhuri. The state was represented by Additional Advocate-General Gagneshwar Singh Walia.
Chief Justice Nagu observed that the case revolved around the seizure of 54 kg poppy husk from a vehicle owned by the petitioner. None had appeared before the court on the petitioner’s behalf and the matter was under investigation. Before parting with the matter, the Bench asserted that case for grant of anticipatory bail was not made out and the petition was, accordingly, dismissed.
