The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has granted bail to Altaf Ahmad Shah in an NDPS case in which he alleged false implication following an altercation between his advocate sister and the then Station House Officer.
Justice Sanjay Parihar recorded the defence’s contention that the case arose from that alleged animosity. Counsel also submitted that a prosecution witness had admitted falsely informing police against Shah and had not supported the prosecution during trial.
The Court left the competing versions concerning false implication and alleged misuse of an advocate sticker for determination at trial, without expressing a final opinion.
The bail decision centred on uncertainty over the prosecution’s commercial-quantity claim. Police allegedly recovered 15 bottles of suspected codeine-based cough syrup and certain Tapentadol tablets from Shah’s vehicle.
Nine bottles carried printed labels and batch numbers; six did not. One bottle from each group underwent forensic examination, which detected Codeine Phosphate.
The Court questioned extending the result from one unlabelled bottle to the remaining five without material establishing that all six contained an identical substance in identical concentration. It held that Section 37’s stringent restrictions could not, at that stage, prevent consideration of bail.
Applying ordinary bail principles, the Court considered Shah’s custody, the stage of trial and the examination of material witnesses, which reduced concerns about interference with evidence.
Speaking to The Lawyers’ Post, Advocate Arzaan Ahmad Dar, who represented Shah, welcomed the order, saying, “Not only justice is done by the court, justice seems to have been done.”
Shah must furnish a ₹1 lakh personal bond with two sureties of the same amount, attend trial unless exempted, obtain permission before leaving J&K, and refrain from similar offences.
The Court clarified that its observations were confined to bail and would not influence the trial.
Case—Altaf Ahmad Shah v. Union Territory of J&K through P/S Mehraj Gunj
Case number—Bail App No. 33/2026
Bench—Justice Sanjay Parihar
Order dated—October 6, 2026