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Sujit Tiwari v. The State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 101Decided 28 Jan 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 1897 of 2019
Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

The Indian Coast Guard intercepted a ship carrying about 1,445 kg of heroin concealed in specially fabricated compartments. The ship's Master was the appellant's brother, and the appellant, Sujit Tiwari, was arrested as an alleged co-conspirator for allegedly helping arrange the smuggling and disposal of the drugs on land, based partly on WhatsApp messages and a statement he later retracted. He had been in custody for over two years and sought bail, which the stringent bail conditions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act normally make difficult to get.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court granted bail to the appellant, distinguishing his situation from that of the other, more directly involved accused (the ship's Master and crew). The Court found only thin evidence against him, a few messages and a retracted statement, and noted a real possibility he was unaware of the full extent of the drug conspiracy, since even his brother reportedly didn't know what was being smuggled until later. Given the weak evidence, his young age, and over two years already spent in custody, the Court found this a fit case to grant bail, but attached strict conditions: surrendering his passport, staying only in specified cities, daily police reporting, and cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation.

Lesson Learnt

Even under strict laws like the NDPS Act that make bail hard to get, courts will still look closely at how strong the evidence is against each individual accused, being linked to serious crime through family or association isn't automatically enough to deny bail if the actual evidence against that specific person is weak.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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