Now Reading: HP High Court: No third option after accused picks Gazetted Officer under NDPS
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HP High Court: No third option after accused picks Gazetted Officer under NDPS
HP High Court: No third option after accused picks Gazetted Officer under NDPS
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that Section 50 of the NDPS Act does not allow any officer, including the Gazetted Officer, to give an accused a fresh or third option…
The Story in Brief
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that Section 50 of the NDPS Act does not allow any officer, including the Gazetted Officer, to give an accused a fresh or third option to choose the search authority after the accused has already exercised the statutory choice of being searched before a Magistrate or a Gazetted Officer. The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma dismissed the State's appeal against the acquittal of Ram Lal, from whom police allegedly recovered 350 grams of charas in Kullu in 2013.
The court noted that after Ram Lal opted for a search before a Gazetted Officer, he was taken to Manali, 12 km away, instead of Patlikuhal where a Gazetted Officer was available 4-5 km from the spot. The Bench observed that the trial court's acquittal was based on multiple flaws: independent witnesses were not associated, key police witnesses were not examined, and photos of the recovery contradicted the prosecution version on time and place.
The Indian Opinion
The HP High Court has rightly plugged a procedural loophole that could have swallowed a valuable right. Some police narratives suggest accused persons often switch options to delay or derail searches, but the law gives only two choices for a reason: to ensure a truly independent witness. The test now is whether investigation agencies will finally train their officers to stop offering illegal third options, or whether the State will keep litigating acquittals born of its own procedural slips.
Source: livelaw.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
