NEWS: Bombay HC says No Celebrity or role model enjoys any special privilege before the Court of Law

By Legal Wires 6 Minutes Read

Bombay High Court granted bail to Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty in the drug case she was implicated in.

The Court had reserved its verdict in the matter on September 29, after hearing the parties.

In the judgment pronounced, the Court put its view into each of the issues brought up during the hearings.

Justice Sarang V Kotwal made the observation that:

“Everybody is equal before law. No celebrity or role model enjoys any special privilege before the Court of law. Similarly, such person also does not incur any special liability when he faces law in the Courts. Each case will have to be decided on its own merits irrespective of the status of the accused.”

In response to a contention made by the Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh that the celebrities and role model shall be treated strictly and harshly so that to set an example for the young generation for not committing any similar offences.

The issues that were brought up during the hearing are:

• Whether Narcotic Control Bureau has jurisdiction to investigate?

The Court was in opinion that the investigation in death of Sushant Singh Rajput and investigation by the NCB are totally different.

Court said:                                                           

“During the course of this investigation, incidentally it was found that Sushant Singh Rajput used to procure drugs. For that purpose, many others helped him. This investigation led to arrest of many other dealers in illicit traffic of drugs who are unconnected with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. In this view of the matter, I do not find any force in the submissions of Mr. Maneshinde that NCB is not empowered to investigate into this offence, which is a totally different subject matter.”

• Whether the offences alleged against Rhea Chakraborty are bailable?

The Court was in view that in case of State of Punjab v. Baldev Singh it was held that Section 37 of the Act makes it clear that all offences non-bailable, and also lays down stringent conditions for grant of bail.

The Court held that:

“If the accused claims bail as of right in case of possession of small quantity then no investigation can be carried out to find the source and trade of the contraband. This defeats the object of the Act. Considering all this discussion, I am of the firm view that the observations made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Baldev Singh (supra) are binding and all offences under the NDPS Act are non- bailable.”

• Whether Rhea was guilty of financing illicit drugs and harbouring offence?

Rhea was charged under Section 27A of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which provides punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders.

The Court decided that simply providing money for a particular transaction will not amount to the financing of that activity. Financing means to provide funds for either making that particular activity operational or for sustaining it, the Court opined that:

“The allegations against the Applicant of spending money in procuring drugs for Sushant Singh Rajput will not, therefore, mean that she had financed illicit traffic.”

Observing that Rhea was not guilty of Section 27A or any offence involving commercial quantity of drugs, the Court noted,

“There are no other criminal antecedents against her. She is not part of the chain of drug dealers. She has not forwarded the drugs allegedly procured by her to somebody else to earn monetary or other benefits. Since she has no criminal antecedents, there are reasonable grounds for believing that she is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.”

Click Here to Read the Full Judgement: https://legal-wires.com/wp-content/uploads/Rhea_Chakraborty_judgment.pdf

Legal Wires

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