Aryan case raises questions

Judicial norm is bail, jail is an exception

While the raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast in which Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and some others were detained has become controversial, the refusal of a special court to grant him bail has raised more questions.

The NCB has claimed that the raid was conducted on the basis of information about a drug party on the cruiser and the youngsters were detained after drugs were seized from them. But some suspicions have been raised about the raid as there are claims that persons not linked to the NCB were involved in it. Such claims have led to charges that the NCB action had a political angle and the targets could be Shah Rukh Khan or Bollywood as such. Now, there are also serious allegations of an NCB official receiving a payoff.

Also read: Cruise drugs case: Actor Ananya Panday fails to appear before NCB

While these issues may be discussed in the public fora or may be raised at a later stage in the case if it is pursued, questions of immediate relevance are about the denial of bail to Aryan Khan by two courts. A magistrate court had rejected his bail application on October 8 and the special court that hears narcotics cases did so last week.

Aryan Khan has been booked under various provisions of the stringent Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) but it has been pointed out that no drugs were found in his possession, he has no previous history of crime or drug abuse, and no blood test was carried out on him. A small quantity of contraband was found on a friend of his, and the court has taken this to be “conscious possession”. The court also accepted the prosecution argument that the WhatsApp chats on his phone could point to a conspiracy and that he might tamper with evidence.

The case is similar to that of Rhea Chakraborty, who was also accused of violation of the NDPS Act, faced similar charges, and had to undergo what finally turned out to be harassment by the NCB. She was granted bail by the High Court. Aryan Khan’s case is also set be heard by the Mumbai High Court.

The judicial norm is that bail is the rule and jail is an exception, and there are many judgements from the Supreme Court and other courts upholding the principle. Last year, the top court underlined this when it granted bail to journalist Arnab Goswami, declaring that “deprivation of liberty even for a single day is one day too many.” It is unfortunate that the principle has not been internalised by all courts. Most people who are denied bail suffer in silence as they are unable to pursue their cases.