In Union of India Through I.O. Narcotics Control Bureau v. Man Singh Verma 2025 INSC 292, Supreme Court's Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Manmohan concluded: "we accept the submission of the Union of India that grant of compensation to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/- was without the authority of law. The order of the High Court, therefore, to this extent has to be set aside. Ordered accordingly. Appeal is allowed partly. The observations made hereinabove should not be taken to preclude any remedy that may be available to the respondent as per law. Hence, our observations are limited only to the correctness of the grant of compensation in the adjudication of a bail application."
It observed: "It is a settled principle of law that the jurisdiction conferred upon a Court under Section 439 CrPC is limited to grant or refusal of bail pending trial. In the following decisions, this Court has time and again held that the sphere of consideration, when exercising power under this Section, pertains only to securing or restricting liberty of the person in question."
The Allahabad High Court had asked the Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to pay a sum of Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the respondent for the alleged wrongful confinement. NCB had challenged the impugned order of the High Court.
The Court took note of the decision in Kalyan Chandra Sarkar vs. Rajesh Ranjan (2004), wherein it was observed that at the stage of granting bail, a detailed examination of evidence and elaborate documentation of the merits of a case need not be undertaken.
In State vs. M.Murugan (2020)15 SCC 251, Supreme Court reiterated that the Court’s jurisdiction is limited to grant or refusal to grant bail, pending trial. In this case, the High Court, while taking a decision on bail application, had retained the file and directed the State to form a committee and seek its recommendations on the reformation and rehabilitation of convict/accused persons. The Court held that while ordering such directions the High Court has committed grave illegality and held that the jurisdiction under Section 439 CrPC ends when the bail application is finally decided. The Court held as under :-
“11. We find that the learned Single Judge [M. Murugesan v. State, 2019 SCC OnLine Mad 12414] has collated data from the State and made it part of the order after the decision [M. Murugesan v. State, Criminal Original Petition No. 1618 of 2019, order dated 18-2-2019 (Mad)] of the bail application, as if the Court had the inherent jurisdiction to pass any order under the guise of improving the criminal justice system in the State. The jurisdiction of the court under Section 439 of the Code is limited to grant or not to grant bail pending trial. Even though the object of the Hon'ble Judge was laudable but the jurisdiction exercised was clearly erroneous. The effort made by the Hon'ble Judge may be academically proper to be presented at an appropriate forum but such directions could not be issued under the colour of office of the court.”
Section 439 of CrPC reads: “439. Special powers of High Court or Court of Session regarding bail.—(1) A High Court or Court of Session may direct,— (a) that any person accused of an offence and in custody be released on bail, and if the offence is of the nature specified in sub-section (3) of section 437, may impose any condition which it considers necessary for the purposes mentioned in that sub-section;
(b) that any condition imposed by a Magistrate when releasing any person on bail be set aside or modified:
Provided that the High Court or the Court of Session shall, before granting bail to a person who is accused of an offence which is triable exclusively by the Court of Session or which, though not so triable, is punishable with imprisonment for life, give notice of the application for bail to the Public Prosecutor unless it is, for reasons to be recorded in writing, of opinion that it is not practicable to give such notice.
Provided further that the High Court or the Court of Session shall, before granting bail to a person who is accused of an offence triable under sub-section (3) of section 376 or section 376AB or section 376DA or section376DB of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), give notice of the application for bail to the Public Prosecutor within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of the notice of such application.
(1A) The presence of the informant or any person authorised by him shall be obligatory at the time of hearing of the application for bail to the person under subsection (3) of section 376 or section 376AB or section 376DA or section DB of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).]
(2) A High Court or Court of Session may direct that any person who has been released on bail under this Chapter be arrested and commit him to custody.”
The Division Bench added:"The undue restriction of liberty, i.e., without the backing of procedures established by law is unquestionably an affront to a person’s rights but the avenues to seek recourse of law in connection therewith are limited to remedies as per law. However, none was availed in the present facts”.
It stated, “As such, we accept the submission of the Union of India that grant of compensation to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/- was without the authority of law. The order of the High Court, therefore, to this extent has to be set aside. Ordered accordingly. Appeal is allowed partly.” The judgement was authored by Justice Karol and delivered on February 28, 2025.
In the case in question, the NCB had seized 1280 grams of brown powder (allegedly heroin) from the possession of one Man Singh Verma (respondent herein) and one Aman Singh. A Criminal Case was registered against the respondent under Sections 8(C), 21 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. While awaiting the results of the samples from the laboratory, the respondent filed an application seeking bail but the same was rejected. Consequently, the respondent approached the High Court. The Central Revenue Control Laboratory's report showed that the sample tested negative for heroin and other narcotic substances.
The report from Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh revealed that the second set of samples also tested negative for any narcotic substance. The NCB filed a closure report before the Special Judge, NDPS, pursuant to which the respondent was released from the District Jail.
Unmindful of the respondent’s release, the High Court had proceeded to adjudicate the pending bail application and, by the impugned order, observed that the respondent was a young person who had been wrongfully confined for four months despite the initial laboratory finding. The High Court had directed the Director, NCB to pay Rs.5,00,000 as compensation to the respondent.
The fact remains the principle of awarding compensatory relief for the violation of fundamental rights by public officials was recognized in Rudal Sah vs. State of Bihar (1983) 4 SCC 141; Nilabati Behera vs. State of Orissa (1993) 2 SCC 746; and D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) 1 SCC 416 under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
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