( 2026:JHHC:3909 ) -1- A.B.A. No. 782 of 2026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI A.B.A. No. 782 of 2026 Gauri Devi @ Gori Devi, aged about 63 years, wife of late Shankar Pasi @ Shankar Mahtha, resident of Village- Amgariya, P.O. Malhara, P.S. Rikhiya, District- Deoghar … Petitioner -Versus- The State of Jharkhand … Opposite Party ----- CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI ----- For the Petitioner : Mr. Ankit Kumar, Advocate For the State : Mr. Pankaj Kumar, P.P. ----- 03/12.02.2026 Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and learned counsel appearing for the State. 2. The petitioner is apprehending her arrest in connection with Rikhiya P.S. Case No.48 of 2024, registered for the offence under Sections 20(b)(ii)(A) of the N.D.P.S. Act, pending in the Court of the learned Sessions Judge-cum- Special Judge, Deoghar. 3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that for the alleged offence under the NDPS Act, punishment is for one year as the case has been registered under Section 20(b)(ii)(A) of the NDPS Act. He further submits that the petitioner is having no criminal antecedent, as disclosed in paragraph 9 of this application. 4. Learned counsel appearing for the State opposed the prayer and submits that 178 grams of Ganja has been recovered from the shop of the petitioner. 5. As per Section 2(c) of BNSS, 2023, only those offences would fall in the category of bailable offence which are mentioned in the First Schedule of BNSS 2023 or have been specially declared as bailable offence under any special statute and all the remaining offences are deemed to be non-bailable. This was also the position in the old Cr.P.C. 1973. The legislative intention under the new code i.e. BNSS, 2023 which is the new avatar of Cr.P.C., 1973 remains the same and all the offences shall be non-bailable unless shown and specified as bailable. 6. In view of the above, since the NDPS Act does not explicitly classify offences involving small quantities as non-bailable, recourse is taken to ( 2026:JHHC:3909 ) -2- A.B.A. No. 782 of 2026 Section 5 of BNSS, 2023 which mandates that in the absence of a specific provision in a special enactment, the general principles of classification under BNSS shall apply. In this context, Part II of the First Schedule of BNSS, 2023 (corresponding to Part II of the First Schedule of the Cr.P.C., 1973) provides the framework for determining whether an offence is bailable or non-bailable based on the prescribed punishment. 7. Since the maximum punishment for small quantity offences is limited to one year, they fall within the lowest tier of classification, thereby rendering them bailable by operation of law. 8. In the attending facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to extend the privilege of anticipatory bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, the above-named petitioner is directed to surrender before the learned Court within three weeks from today and in the event of her arrest or surrender, she shall be enlarged on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs.25,000/- (Twenty Five Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Sessions Judge cum Special Judge, Deoghar in connection with Rikhiya P.S. Case No.48 of 2024, subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 482(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. (Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J.) Dated: 12th February, 2026 Ajay/ A.F.R.