Nahas vs State Of Kerala

The applicant is the 3rd accused in Crime No. 118 of 2020 of Erattupettah Police Station, Kottayam, for having allegedly committed offences

punishable under Section 22(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,1985 (for short, the “NDPS Actâ€) and under Sections 18

(c) and 27(b) (ii) of Drug and Cosmetics Act. The prosecution case, in brief, is this:

On 30-01-2020, at about 11:10 PM, Erattupetta Police, found the accused persons, totalling four in number, in possession of Narcotic Drugs and

Psychotropic Substances and accused Nos. 1 and 2 were arrested from the spot. The applicant fled away from the scene of occurrence and was also

apprehended later. The 4th accused is still at large. This is the third application filed by the applicant for bail. The earlier two applications were

dismissed by this Court. Now, the final report has already been filed. The applicant seeks bail on the ground that there is no possibility of the trial

getting completed, because of the pandemic condition. Successive bail applications are permissible provided there are changes of circumstances. The

filing of the final report is not a change of circumstances is well settled. There are no circumstances which have changed. The applicant has produced

a medical certificate of his mother stating that she is ill and requires medical attention. The applicant is at liberty to approach the trial court, seeking

release or for being escorted to visit of his mother who is ill and I leave it to the trial court to decide such prayers appropriately, on the basis of medical

certificate that may be produced.

Being the offence in which an applicant was found to be in possession of commercial quantities of drugs, the embargo under Section 37 of the

NDPS Act, would continue till the end of the trial. And, therefore, the trial court, is directed to expedite the trial and take it to its logical conclusion at

the earliest, considering the fact that the applicant, who is young man, is incarcerated. It is made clear that the applicant is not prohibited from

approaching the court again for bail if there are any change of circumstances.

With these observations, the bail application is dismissed.