{
  "id": 7802440,
  "title": "‘When It Comes To Ganja, We Are Very Liberal’: Supreme Court On Bail In NDPS Cases",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/when-it-comes-to-ganja-we-are-very-liberal-supreme-court-on-bail-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-16T13:31:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/when-it-comes-to-ganja-we-are-very-liberal-supreme-court-on-bail-in-ndps-cases"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Supreme Court of India has declared it takes a \"very liberal\" stance when evaluating bail requests involving ganja under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. This was revealed during a hearing for a petition from Biswanath Mandal, an accused in an NDPS case linked to the seizure of a \"substantial amount\" of ganja.\n\nHowever, the Court did not grant Mandal's request for anticipatory bail and urged him to surrender to the authorities in order to apply for regular bail. Furthermore, the Bench suggested that if lower courts rejected his regular bail application, he could still appeal to the Supreme Court for consideration.\n\nThe Court's oral remark stated, \"Come for bail, we'll give you. See, when it comes to ganja, we are very liberal. Whenever it comes to us, we grant bail.\" This was in response to Mandal's challenge of a Calcutta High Court ruling that denied him anticipatory bail. The High Court had found that a large quantity of narcotics had been seized from Mandal's wife at their residence. Despite Mandal not being present during the search, the High Court determined that he could not entirely distance himself from the property since he was its owner, citing the limitations under Section 37 of the NDPS Act.\n\nMandal's solicitor argued that the house was not owned by his client and expressed concerns under Section 37's exception, which allows for reasonable grounds for granting bail. The Court acknowledged the ownership issue could be addressed during the investigative phase and granted Mandal the opportunity to surrender and apply for regular bail. After deciding not to consider the anticipatory bail plea, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.",
  "summary": "The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that it generally takes a “very liberal” approach while considering bail pleas in cases involving ganja under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale made the observation while hearing an anticipatory bail plea filed by Biswanath Mandal, an accused in an NDPS case involving the alleged…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}