CENTER CANNOT FILE A PLEA AGAINST BOMBAY HCs OBSERVATIONS - SC

18th March 2021

The Supreme Court stated that a petition could not be challenged against observations made in a bail order. This observation was made by the bench headed by CJI Bobde while considering a plea filed by the Centre against some of the observations by the Bombay High court considered while granting bail to Rhea Chakraborthy. Solicitor Tushar Mehta headed the plea for Central Government and stated that the Bombay High Court had made certain observations regarding the NDPS act, which would make the Act unworkable. Furthermore, the high court observed that he could not challenge merely an observation but only the order. The court granted him time to amend the petition.

The Hon'ble High court rejected NCB's claim regarding Rhea Chakraborthy that she has been part of facilitating the drug trade, holding that merely giving the money to buy drugs and concealment of drug use do not amount to the act of harbouring an offender and financing the illicit trade. The court also stated that she is not likely to commit any offences if let out on bail as no criminal antecedents have been recorded in the past.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal