Jammu Kashmir: HC Grants Bail to Man After Contraband Not Proven in Codeine Case | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has granted bail to a man accused of possessing 11 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish that all seized bottles contained contraband. Justice Sanjay Dhar, in a judgment delivered on November 14, 2025, held that the case could not, at this stage, be treated as involving a commercial quantity under the NDPS Act because only one bottle had been chemically analysed.

The petitioner, Javaid Ahmad Bhat, was arrested on July 14, 2024 at a police checkpoint in Srigufwara after allegedly attempting to flee in a Baleno vehicle. Police claimed that 11 bottles of Omrex-T, each labelled as containing Codeine Phosphate, were recovered from the vehicle’s bonnet.

However, during the bail hearing, the defence argued that the prosecution’s case was fundamentally weakened by its own evidence. Counsel pointed out that only one bottle had been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), where Codeine was confirmed, while the remaining ten bottles had not undergone any chemical examination. Without laboratory verification of all bottles, the defence contended, the allegation of commercial quantity was unsustainable.

Justice Dhar accepted that the limited testing raised substantial doubt at the bail stage. “It is clear that only one bottle, out of seized 11 bottles of Omrex-T, has been sent to FSL for chemical analysis,” the Court observed, adding that there was no evidence the bottles formed part of the same batch. The seizure memo, the judge noted, did not record batch numbers or confirm that the contents were identical.

The prosecution had relied on a 1953 Supreme Court ruling in Vijendrajit Ayodhya Prasad Goel to argue that one sample could represent multiple bottles. But Justice Dhar distinguished the precedent, stating that in the earlier case, evidence established that all bottles contained identical material. “Such is not the case here,” the judge said.

Finding “reasonable grounds” to believe that the petitioner was not guilty of possessing a commercial quantity, the Court also noted Bhat’s clean record and the fact that he had spent more than a year in custody, during which six of the twelve prosecution witnesses had already been examined.

Justice Dhar reiterated that bail in commercial-quantity NDPS cases must satisfy the strict conditions of Section 37, including the Court’s satisfaction that the accused will not commit further offences while on bail. The judge held that these conditions were met. “The petitioner has succeeded in carving out a prima facie case for grant of bail,” the ruling stated.

Bhat was ordered to be released on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties and directed to appear before the trial court, refrain from tampering with evidence, and not leave Jammu Kashmir without prior permission. The Court clarified that observations made in the bail order were confined to the bail stage and would not influence the trial proceedings.