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Search for narcotics only before gazetted officer or magistrate - Bombay HC

Bombay High Court: Acquitting a South African woman of the charges of possessing narcotic substances, a division bench comprising of VK Tahilramani and VL Achilya, JJ observed that Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) had failed to follow the proper procedure of informing the suspect that he/she had the ‘right’ to be searched before a gazetted officer or magistrate. In the present case, the suspect was searched at the airport and a bag of heroin was found from a false bottom in her belongings. Thereafter, she was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court. The Counsel for the appellant argued that the accused person has a right under Section 50 of the NDPS Act to be searched only before a gazetted officer or a magistrate. The officers have to inform the accused of this right and then carry out the search. Accepting this, the Court noted that informing an accused of his or her right is ‘not an empty formality’. The Court stated that such a requirement of law prescribed under Section 50 cannot be dealt with lightly by the courts dealing with the trial of such offences. It is well settled that the offence committed under NDPS Act is a grave one, therefore procedural safeguards provided therein have to be strictly complied with. [Thulile Goodness Dhalmini vs. Union of India, Criminal Appeal No. 46 of 2013, decided on April 8, 2014]

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