The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that courts cannot grant compensation in bail hearings, emphasizing that the jurisdiction under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is strictly limited to granting or denying bail.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Manmohan set aside an Allahabad High Court ruling that had ordered the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to pay ₹5 lakh as compensation to an accused who was detained in a drug case despite forensic reports clearing him of wrongdoing.
The case originated from a January 2023 NCB operation in which 1,280 grams of brown powder, initially suspected to be heroin, was seized. The accused were booked under the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and held in judicial custody. However, forensic tests conducted by the Central Revenues Control Laboratory (CRCL) and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) later confirmed that the seized substance contained no narcotics. Despite these findings, the accused remained in custody for four months before their eventual release in April 2023.
The Allahabad High Court, while hearing a pending bail plea, had directed the NCB Director to compensate the accused, citing wrongful confinement. This decision was challenged by the Union of India, which argued that compensation cannot be awarded within the scope of bail proceedings.
The Supreme Court concurred, clarifying that compensation for wrongful detention must be sought through writ petitions under Article 32 or other legal avenues, not under Section 439 CrPC, which strictly pertains to bail decisions. The Court also underscored that NCB officers are granted immunity under Section 69 of the NDPS Act unless malafide intent is proven.
While acknowledging the possibility of compensation in cases of unjustified detention, the Supreme Court maintained that bail hearings are not the appropriate forum for such claims, thereby reinforcing the procedural limits of judicial discretion in bail matters.