Offence under NDPS Act - Right to be searched in presence of a Magistrate is not there - Violation of Section 50 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act - Accused entitled for acquittal- Kerala High Court

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 Sections 20(b)(ii) and 50 Conditions for search of accused - Charge-sheet - Accused has got a right to be searched in presence of a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate - If that right is not informed to accused that is fatal - Evidence PW1 that, accused were informed by writing that, they have got right to be searched in presence of a Gazetted Officer and Magistrate - But in notices right to be searched in presence of a Magistrate is not there - Therefore, oral evidence of cannot be accepted in light of the contemporaneous records - Thus, violation of Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act Accused entitled for acquittal.

(LMASLFD1782323)