HC rejects bail pleas of 2 codeine syrup racket accused

Prayagraj: Allahabad high court has rejected the bail plea of two accused in codeine cough syrup racket saying that the huge quantity of illegally manufactured cough syrup bottles recovered from them invite the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.Denying bail to Abdul Qadir and Ahsan Noori, a bench of Justice Ashutosh Srivastava in the order dated Feb 3 said codeine preparations exceeded permissible limits in the 11,885 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup recovered from them in Rampur.
The court observed: "The exemption provisions are required to be strictly and literally complied with and conditions under which the exemption is granted is strictly adhered to. Any violation of any condition would disentitle the claimant the exemption," and added that, "condition 'established in therapeutic practice' is flagrantly violated" in the present case and denies the applicants the right of exemption.Dismissing the bail pleas, the court held, "No reason is found to falsely implicate the applicant/accused persons. Therefore, there is no good ground to release the applicant-accused persons on bail at this stage." It added: "This court is unable to form an opinion at this stage that the accused persons have not committed an offence."The accused have been charged under Sections 8/21 of the NDPS Act and Sections 318(4), 338, 336(3) and 340 BNS.The applicants had petitioned that they were licensed medicine dealers and had purchased the cough syrup through valid invoices. Apart from pleading that they had no criminal antecedents, they submitted that the drug inspector had no authority to collect and seal cough syrup samples.The court observed that codeine (methyl-morphine) and its salts and all dilutions and preparations have been listed as manufactured drug at Item No. 35 in the central govt notification. Exception was only granted to codeine being a drug if it was used in Therapeutic practice and if it was used in less 100 milligrams in a dosage and with a concentration of not more than 2.5% in undivided preparations.The court held that the applicants had violated the exception provided in the above notification and were disentitled from claiming the benefit of the same.