Section 50 NDPS Act Not To Be Complied With In Case Of Vehicle Search

• The Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari while upholding the conviction of the accused in Kallu Khan vs. State of Rajasthan on 11 December, 2021 observed that the provisions of Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (search of the person of the accused) are required to be complied with only in the case of personal search and not in the case of search of a vehicle.
• In the instant case, the accused was apprehended while running away from 2 policemen when he felt that he could be stopped and searched. Suspecting probable concealment of contraband, the police chased him down and searched him. No drugs were found on his person but 900 grams of Smack was strapped to the bottom of his motorcycle’s seat. He was arrested in consequence.
• He was convicted by the trial court under sections 8 and 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and sentenced to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,00,000.
• Mr. C.N.Srieekumar, the learned senior counsel representing the appellant had urged that the search and seizure was conducted by an unauthorised officer with the help of police witnesses. He further contended that the procedure contemplated by section 50 of NDPS Act has not been followed. The link of the vehicle with the commission of the offence has not been established.
• The Court held that the arguments advanced by the appellant regarding the non-compliance of section 50 NDPS Act is bereft of any merit because no recovery of contraband from the person of the accused has been made to which the compliance of the provisions of section 50 has to be followed mandatorily.
• The Court also referred to the judgement in Vijayasingh Chandhubha vs. State of Gujarat (2011)1 SCC 609 in which the Hon’ble Court held that section 50 of NDPS Act has to be complied with in case of a personal search and not in the case of a vehicular search.
• As regards the absence of any independent witnesses, the Court observed that this question has already been dealt with by this Hon’ble Court in the case of Surinder Kumar vs. State of Punjab (2020)2 SCC 563 where it held that merely because the independent witnesses were not examined, the conclusion cannot be drawn that the accused was falsely implicated.

Let’s see if you can answer this question correctly-
1) The section which pertains to search under NDPS Act is __________ .