Holding

Section 50 of the NDPS Act applies only to the search of the human body and does not extend to bags, briefcases or other containers carried by a person.

Summary

The appellant State of Haryana appealed the High Court's acquittal of Suresh, who had been convicted under Section 18 of the NDPS Act for possession of opium discovered in a false bottom of his attaché case. The High Court set aside the conviction on the ground that the search of the bag violated the mandatory requirements of Section 50, which it interpreted to cover searches of articles carried by a person. The Supreme Court examined the literal meaning of the word "person" in Section 50 and held that it refers only to the human being, not to bags, briefcases or other containers. Consequently, Section 50 was not applicable to the search of the attaché case, rendering the High Court's basis for acquittal untenable. The Court allowed the appeal, reinstated the conviction, and remitted the matter to the High Court to consider any other grounds of challenge. The decision reaffirmed the principle of literal statutory interpretation and clarified the scope of "search any person" under the NDPS Act.

Issues considered

What is the meaning of the words "search any person" in Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985?
Does Section 50 apply to the search of bags, briefcases or other containers carried by a person?

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure
General Clauses Act
Indian Penal Code, 1860
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985s. 18, s. 41, s. 42, s. 43, s. 50

Subjects

NDPS ActSection 50search of personstatutory interpretationliteral constructionbag searchconvictionacquittal

Judgment

STATE OF HARY ANA A
,}
v.
I SURESH
I
/

JUNE 5, 2007

[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND D. K. JAIN, JJ.] B

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985:

s. 50-Scope and ambit of- "Search any person "-Meaning of-Held:
A bag, brief case or any such container etc. can, under no circumstances be C
treated as body of a human being-Therefore, these article cannot be included
within the ambit of the person occurring in s. 50-Interpretation of Statutes.

Interpretation of Statutes :

Literal interpretation-Onus of showing that the words do not mean D
what they scy lies heavily on the party who alleges it-Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985-ss. 50 rlw s. 18.

Words and Phrases:

'Person' and occurring in s.50 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic E
Substances Act, 1985---Connotation of

Respondent was convicted by the trial court of an offence punishable
u/s. 18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, on the
case of the prosecution that a plastic bag containing opium was recovered
from his attache' case which was searched by the patrolling party. On appeal
F
by the accused, the High Court directed his acquittal on the ground that there
was non-compliance with the mandatory requirements of s.50 of the Act.

In the instant appeal filed by the State, it was contended for the appellant
that the High Court failed to take note of the decisions of the Supreme Court G
to the effect that s. 50 of the Act relates only to a personal search and not of
bags or containers carried by the accused.

On the question: what is the meaning of the words "search any person"

961 H
962 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 S.C.R.

A occurring in s.50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,
1985.

Allowing the appeal and remitting the matter to the High Court, the
Court

B HELD: 1.1. A bag, briefcase or any such article or container, etc. can,
under no circumstances, be treated as body of human being. They are given
a separate name and are identifiable as such. They cannot even remotely be
treated to be part of the body of a human being. Therefore, it is not possible ....
·.o;:
to include these articles within the ambit of the word "person" occurring in
Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
c !Para 14) [966-C, D, El

State of Punjab v. Baldev Singh (1999) 6 SCC 172, followed.

State of H.P. v. Pawan Kumar, [2005) 4 SCC 350, relied on.
_,
·o 1.2. One of the basic principles of interpretation of Statutes is to
construe them according to plain, literal and grammatical meaning of the
words. If that is contrary to, or inconsistent with, any express intention or
declared purpose of the Statute, or if it would involve any absurdity, repugnancy
or inconsistency, the grammatical sense must then be modified, extended or
abridged, so far as to avoid such an inconvenience, but no further. The onus
E
of showing that the words do not mean what they say lies heavily on the party
who alleges it. [Para 12) [965-E, Fl

Jugalkishore Sarafv. Raw Cotton Co. ltd., AIR (1955) SC 376, relied
on.
F
Craies on Statute law, Seventh Ed. Page 83-85; Principles of Statutory
Interpretation by Justice G. P. Singh, referred to.

1.3. The acquittal, as directed by the High Court, is, therefore, clearly
unsustainable. However, other points were urged in support of the appeal
G before the High Court, but it allowed the appeal only on the ground of non-
compliance of Section 50 of the Act. It did not examine the other grounds of
challenge. The High Court would hear the appeal afresh on grounds other
than that of alleged non-compliance with Section 50 of the Act, which, has no
application to the facts of the case. [Para 181 [968-A, BJ (

H CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 248 of
.,___

STATEOFHARYANA v. SURESH[PASAYAT_J.) 963
~

200L A
)

From the Judgiuent & Order dated 14.10.1999 of the High Court of
Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 263-SB of 1988.

., Roopansh Purohit, Rajeev Gaur 'Naseem', T.V. George for the Appellant.'
B
Debasis Mishra for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
~

DR. ARlJIT PASA YAT, J. 1. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment
of a learned Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowing the
Criminal Appeal filed by the respondent, who was found guilty of offence
c
punishable under Section 18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act, 1985 (in short the 'Act') and sentenced to undergo rigorous
imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,00/- with default
stipulations.
D
2. The High Court directed acquittal on the ground that there was non-
-.. compliance with the mandatory requirements of Section 50 of the Act.

3. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows.

The case of the prosecution is that on 0 l.04.1987, the patrolling party E
consisting of the sub-inspector and two assistant sub-inspectors and four
constables were present at Rohtak. At about 5.10 a.m. a bus of Haryana
Roadways came from Delhi and the same was stopped by patrolling party.
The accused-respondent, Suresh was also one of the passengers travelling
in the bus with an attache-case. The Sub-Inspector of Police searched the
attache case by taking the same from the hands of the accused. When the F
.../
attachi case was searched, a false bottom made of ply-wood was broken and
below it there was a plastic bag containing opium and the same was recovered
by the police. Out of it 10 grams of opium was separated as sample and
parcels of the same and the remaining bulk were prepared and were sealed
with seal bearing inscription RK and a ruqa was sent to the police station for G
registration of the case and on the basis of the same, investigation was taken
up and after completion of the investigation a charge-sheet was filed.
.. ...
4. In order to prove the guilt of the accused, the prosecution examined
five witnesses.
H
964 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007] 7 S.C.R.
>
A 5. After closure of the evidence of the prosecution. the accused was
examined under Section 313 of the Code of Crim in al Procedure. 1973 (in short
....
•
the 'Code'), and in defence the accused did not examine any witnesses
though he pleaded innocence and false implication.

6. On consideration of the evidence on record, learned Additional
B Sessions Judge convicted the accused for the offence under Section 18 of the
Act and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10
years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- and in default of payment of fine,
to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years. Accused
filed an appeal before the High Court which as noted above was allowed and
'
C conviction was set aside.

7. In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant-State
submitted that the High Court's judgment is unsustainable in view of several
decisions of this Court taking the view that Section 50 of the Act relates only
to a personal search and not of bags or containers carried by the accused.
D
8. There is no appearance on behalf of the respondent.

9. The controversy turns round Section 50 of the Act and the same (at
the relevant tirpe) reads as under:

"Conditions under which search of persons shall be conducted:
E
(I) When any officer duly authorized under Section 42 is about to
search any person under the provisions of Section 41, section 42 or
Section 43, he shall, if such person so requires, take such person
without unnecessary delay to the nearest Gazetted Officer of any of
F the departments mentioned in Section 42 or to the nearest Magistrate.

(2) If such requisition is made, the officer may detain the person until
he can bring him before the Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate referred
to in sub-section (I).

(3) The Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate before whom any such
G person is brought shall, if he sees no reasonable ground for search,
forthwith discharge the person but otherwise shall direct that search
be made.
(
(4) No female shall be searched by anyone excepting a female."

H I 0. The question, which requires consideration, is what is the meaning
STATEOFHARYANAv. SURESH{PASAYAT.J.) 965
of the words '"search any person" occurring in Sub-section (I) of Section 50 A
of the Act. Learned counsel for the accused has submitted that the word
- "person" occurring in Section 50 would also include within its ambit any bag,
briefcase or any such article or container, etc., being carried by such person
and the provisions of Section 50 have to be strictly complied with while
conducting, search of such bag, briefcase, article or container, etc. Learned B
counsel for the State has, on the other hand, submitted that there is no
warrant for giving such an extended meaning and the word "person" would
mean only the person himself and not any bag, briefcase, article or container,
etc., being carried by him.

I I. The word "person" has not been defined in the Act. Section 2(xxix) C
of the Act says that the words and expressions used herein and not defined
but defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure have the meanings respectively
assigned to them in that Code. The Code, however, does not define the word
"person". Section 2(y) of the Code says that the words and expressions used
therein and not defined but defined in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 have the
meanings respectively assigned to them in that Code. Section I I of the Indian D
Penal Code says that the word "person" includes any Company or Association_
-, or body of persons whether incorporated or not. Similar definition of the word
"person" has been given in Section 3(42) of the General Clauses Act. Therefore,
these definitions render no assistance for resolving the controversy in hand.

12. One of the basic principles of interpretation of Statutes is to construe E
them according to plain, literal and grammatical meaning of the words. If that
is contrary to, or inconsistent with, any express intention or declared purpose
of the Statute, or if it would involve any absurdity, repugnancy or inconsistency,
the grammatical sense must then be modified, extended or abridged, so far as
to avoid such an inconvenience, but no further. The onus of showing that F
the words do not mean what they say lies heavily on the party who alleges
it. He must advance something which clearly shows that the grammatical
construction would be repugnant to the intention of the Act or lead to some
manifest absurdity (See Craies on Statute Law, Seventh ed. page 83-85). In the
well known treatise - Principles of Statutory Interpretation by Justice G.P.
Singh, the learned author has enunciated the same principle that the wordc; G
of the Statute are first understood in their natural, ordinary or popular sense
and phrases and sentences- are construed according to their grammatical
meaning, unless that leads to some absurdity or unless there is something in
the context or in the object of the Statute to suggest the contrary (See the
Chapter - The Rule of Literal Construction -page 78 - Ninth ed.). This Court H
966 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 S.C.R.

A has also followed this principle right from the beginning. In Jugalkishore
Saraf v. Raw Cotton Co. Ltd.. AIR (1955) SC 3 76, S.R. Das, J. said: -

"The cardinal rule of construction of statutes is to read the statute
literally, that is, by giving to the words used by the legislature their
ordinary, natural and grammatical meaning. If, however, such a reading
B leads to absurdity and the words are susceptible of another meaning
the Court may adopt the same. But if no such alternative construction
is possible,. the Court must adopt the ordinary rule of literal
interpretation."

13. A catena of subsequent decisions have followed the same line. It,
C therefore, becomes necessary to look to dictionaries to ascertain the correct
meaning of the word "person".

I 4. A bag, briefcase or any such article or container, etc. can, under no
circumstances, be treated as body of a human being. They are given a
D separate name and are identifiable as such. They cannot even remotely be
treated to be part of the body of a human being. Depending upon the physical
capacity of a person, he may carry any number of items like a bag, a briefcase, .,.
a suitcase, a tin box, a thaila, a jhola, a gathri, a holdall, a carton, etc. of
varying size, dimension or weight. However, while carrying or moving along
with them, some extra effort or energy would be required. They would have
E to be carried either by the hand or hung on the shoulder or back or placed
on the head. In common parlance it would be said that a person is carrying
a particular article, specifying the manner in which it was carried like hand,
shoulder, back or head, etc. Therefore, it is not possible to include these
articles within the ambit of the word "person" occurring in Section 50 of the
F Act.

15. The scope and ambit of Section 50 of the Act was examined in
considerable detail by a Constitution Bench in State of Punjab v. Baldev
Singh, (1999] 6 SCC 172 and para 12 ofthe reports is being reproduced below:

"12. On its plain reading, Section 50 would come into play only in the
G case of a search of a per5on as distinguished from search of any
premises etc. However, if the empowered officer, without any prior
information as contemplated by Section 42 of the Act makes a search
or causes arrest of a person during the normal course of investigation
into an offence or suspected offence and on completion of that
H search, a contraband under the NDPS Act is also recovered, the
STATEOFHARYANAv. SURESH (PASAYAT.J.) 967
, _). requirements of Section 50 of the Act are not attracted." A
16. The Bench recorded its conclusion in para 5 7 of the reports and sub-
paras (I). (2). (3) and (6) are being reproduced below:

"57. On the basis of the reasoning and discussion above, the following
conclusions arise: B
(I) That when an empowered officer or a duly authorized officer acting
... .7' on prior information is about to search a person, it is imperative for
him to infonn the person concerned of his right under Sub-section (I)
of Section 50 of being taken to the nearest gazetted officer or the
nearest Magistrate for making the search. However, such infonnation c
may not necessarily be in writing.

(2) That failure to inform the person concerned about the existence of
his right to be searched before a gazetted officer or a Magistrate
would cause prejudice to an accused.
D
(3) That a search made by an empowered officer, on prior infonnation,
1 without informing the person of his right that if he so requires, he
shall be taken before a gazetted officer or a Magistrate for search and
in case he so opts, failure to conduct his search before a gazetted
officer or a Magistrate may not vitiate the trial but would render the
recovery of the illicit article suspect and vitiate the conviction and E
sentence of an accused, where the conviction has been recorded only
on the basis of the possession of the illicit article, recovered from his
person, during a search conducted in violation of the provisions of
Section 50 of the Act.

.. Xx xx xx F
(6) That in the context in which the protection has been incorporated
'.
in Section 50 for the benefit of the person intended to be searched,
we do not express any opinion whether the provisions of Section 50
are mandatory or directory, but hold that failure to infonn the person
concerned of his right as emanating from Sub-section (I) of Section 0
50, may render the recovery of the contraband suspect and the
conviction and sentence of an accused bad and unsustainable in law."
!
l 7. These aspects were highlighted in State of H.P. v. Pawan Kumar,
(2oos1 4 sec 350.
H

'-
968 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007) 7 S.C.R.

A 18. In view of the aforesaid judgment by a three Judge Bench of this
Court, the acquittal. as directed by the High Court, is clearly unsustainable.
However. we find that other points were urged in support of the appeal before
the High Court, but the High Court allowed the appeal filed by the accused
only on the ground of non-compliance of Section 50 of the Act. It did not
B examine the other grounds of challenge. We, therefore, remit the matter to the
High Court to hear the appeal afresh on grounds other than that of alleged
non-compliance with Section 50 of the Act, which, as note'cl above, has no
application to the facts of the case.

19. The appeal is allowed to the aforesaid extent.

C RP. Appeal allowed.

j-

(