A couple arrested with a commercial quantity of drugs and imprisoned for the past 14 months have been granted bail by the Bombay High Court (HC). The court observed that an officer of a rank higher than a constable did not conduct the search and seizure of the drugs.

In the bail order, the Bombay HC stated: "The seizure Panchanama shows no evidence that the search was conducted by an officer superior in rank to a constable. Therefore, prima facie, there appears to be non-compliance with Section 42 of the NDPS Act. The applicants have been in jail for over a year, and no criminal antecedents exist against them. Given this, the court was inclined to grant bail to the applicants under certain conditions.”