A local court here rejected 26 bail applications of different persons accused of drug peddling in the past 30 days.
The court of third additional district and sessions Judge, Mehmood Choudhary stated that in most of these cases bail cannot be granted on mere grounds of ‘innocence’. “Given the recovery of contraband and looking at the cases closely in view of the investigation process that is going on, the court doesn’t find it feasible to bail the accused at large, especially when the whole society’s interest is at stake,” said Choudhary.
While rejecting the bail applications, the court observed that “the right of liberty of an individual needs to be balanced against the interest of whole society.”
Additional public prosecutor, Bilquees Mushtaq Zargar, while referring to various provisions of law, opposed the bail applications and pleaded before the court that the “recovery of contraband is of a commercial nature and letting the accused out on bail would amount to serious damage to society, especially to the younger generation.”
She also referred to police report and said the detailed police report reveals that the “offence committed by the accused is heinous and grave in nature and it concerns the interests of society at large.”
The court said that in such serious cases, where the offence alleged is punishable with ten years imprisonment, discretion is not to be exercised unless the court at that very stage is “satisfied that the charge appears to be false and groundless.”
“But as far as the facts and circumstances of the case are concerned, charas has been recovered from the possession of the accused, so prima-facie there is sufficient evidence on record which makes the court to believe that the accused is prima facie involved in the commission of offence u/s 8/20 NDPS Act. Hence, the bail application is rejected,” said the court.
Bail applications were also rejected by court in similar other cases including that of Javaid Ahmed Khan of Srinagar, Bashir Ahmed Dar of Anantnag, Bilal Ahmed Rather of Ganderbal, Ghulam Ahmed Bhat and Shahbaz Ahmed Bhat of Srinagar.