Long Incarceration Alone Not Ground For Bail In Commercial Quantity NDPS Case If Accused Has Criminal Antecedents: Kerala High Court
K. Salma Jennath
6 Feb 2026 4:00 PM IST
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The Kerala High Court has reiterated that a person found in possession of commercial quantity of narcotic drugs would not be eligible for grant of bail merely because of long incarceration if the twin conditions under Section 37 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act are not satisfied or if he has criminal antecedents.
As per Section 37 of the Act, in cases where the Public Prosecutor opposes the bail application of a person accused of offences involving commercial quantity, bail can be granted only if the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
Dr. Kauser Edappagath was considering the bail application of a person who was found in possession of around 79.5 grams of methamphetamine and got implicated as the 1st accused in a crime alleging commission of offences under Sections 22(c), 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act.
The accused submitted that he has been in custody for more than a year and a half and there is no possibility of the trial being concluded within a reasonable time. Therefore, he sought grant of bail.
The prosecution opposed the bail and contended that the offence is a grave one and long incarceration by itself would not be a criterion for granting bail. Moreover, the accused already had criminal antecedents.
The Court then considered the question whether a person accused of NDPS offences for possessing commercial quantity is entitled for bail due to long incarceration.
It referred to a series of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court, including Union of India v. K.A Najeeb, V. Senthil Balaji v. Deputy Director, Narcotics Control Bureau v. Mohit Aggarwal, Ankur Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh, State of Karnataka v. Sri Darshan and Union of India v. Vigin K.Varghese.
The Court then remarked that the settled position of law is that long incarceration is not a ground for granting bail in cases involving commercial quantities of narcotic drugs where the accused has criminal antecedents or the conditions under Section 37 are not satisfied.
“the law is settled that the period of incarceration has no bearing in the matter of bail involving commercial quantities of narcotic drugs under the NDPS Act in a case where the embargo under Section 37(1)(b) of the NDPS Act is attracted, or the accused has criminal antecedents…In this case, the contraband was seized from the direct possession of the applicant. The applicant has not been able to point out the existence of any facts or circumstances that are sufficient to justify recording a finding that he is not guilty of the offences charged, and hence the rigour under Section 37 of the NDPS Act is not diluted. It is also reported that the applicant has criminal antecedents. He is involved in another crime under Section 22(c) of the NDPS Act,” the Court remarked.
It then dismissed the bail application.
Case No: Bail Appl. No. 13355 of 2025
Case Title: Abid v. State of Kerala and Anr.
Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 77
Counsel for the applicant: P. Mohamed Sabah, Libin Stanley, Saipooja, Sadik Ismayil, R. Gayathri, M. Mahin Hamza, Alwin Joseph, Benson Ambrose
Counsel for the respondents: K.A. Noushad – Senior Public Prosecutor