A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep Shinde of the Bombay High Court has granted bail to a priest of Hanuman Mandir Math in Pune who was booked under the NDPS Act and Wildlife Protection Act.
The case pertains to a raid which was conducted by police officials wherein it was found that the priest was in possession of 10 kg of cannabis (ganja) and another 31.445 kg of it was cultivated by him. He was also found in possession of two antlers and the skin of deer in the temple math.
The advocate for the priest argued that the land from which the plants were uprooted was not owned by the applicant, but is village land that can be checked from the panchnama. Therefore, there is no evidence that shows he was cultivating cannabis. He also argued that with respect to the 10 kg of cannabis, it being a non-commercial quantity, rigours of section 37 of the NDPS Act would not apply.
The government pleader argued that prima facie the crime attracts provisions of section 20(a) of the NDPS Act and it being punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to ten years and fine up to one lakh, the applicant may not be granted bail.
The court agreed with the submission of the advocate for the priest that the said land belonged to the village and the cannabis recovered was not of commercial quantity.
The court also said that the chemical analyser’s report showed a positive result, but the charge sheet did not specify the amount of cannabis extracted.
While raising doubts about the exclusive possession of the cannabis, the judge said, “Above all the charge-sheet, prima-facie, does not suggest that temple from which ganja was recovered, was in his exclusive possession of the applicant. To put it differently, temple premises being accessible to the public at large, it cannot be said that said premises were in exclusive possession and control of the applicant.”
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