IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.19278 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-16 Year-2025 Thana- HARLAKHI District- Madhubani ====================================================== Md. Salamat Darzi @ Md. Salamat Son of Muslim Darzi Resident of Village - Darzi Tola ward no 8, Janakpur, P.S. - Janakpur, District - DHANUSHA, NEPAL. ... ... Petitioner/s Versus The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Subhash Kumar Jha, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Choubey Jawahar, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK KUMAR PANDEY ORAL ORDER 2 10-04-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned APP for the State. 2. The petitioner has prayed for bail in connection with Harlakhi P.S. Case No. 16 of 2025 registered for the offence punishable under Sections 20 and 22 of the N.D.P.S. Act which was earlier rejected by this court vide order dated 20.08.2025 passed in Cr. Misc. No. 41371 of 2025. 3. The case of the prosecution is that on 21.01.2025 police personnel along with SSB had gone for patrolling and vehicle checking and while checking, the accused petitioner was apprehended and from his possession, altogether 30 bottles each of 100 ml of cough syrup containing codeine was recovered and also 59 Nitrazepam tablets IP each of 10 mg and 48 Spasmo- Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.19278 of 2026(2) dt.10-04-2026 2/4 Proxyvon plus capsules were recovered. 4. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has submitted that petitioner is innocent and has committed no offence. He has been falsely implicated in this case. The petitioner has no concern in any way with the alleged contraband. There is no independent witness of the seizure list. Police has not complied section 105 of BNSS while preparing seizure. Nothing has been recovered from his possession. A statement has been made in para-3 of this petition that the petitioner has got no criminal antecedent and he is languishing in judicial custody since 22.01.2025. Learned counsel has further submitted that this Court has granted bail to many accused persons in these types of cases in Cr. Misc. Nos. 77145 of 2025 and 86466 of 2025. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that under Notification No. S.O. 826(E) dated 14.11.1985 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Rules, 1985 that preparations are exempted as manufactured drugs provided the preparations contained the narcotic drugs to the extent permitted in respect of codeine under Entry No. 35. It is stated that codeine and ethyle morphine and their salts including dionine all dilutions and Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.19278 of 2026(2) dt.10-04-2026 3/4 preparations are considered to be manufactured drugs except those which are compounded with one or more other ingredients and containing not more than 100 miligrams of the drugs per doses unit and with a concentration of not more than 2.5 % in undivided preparations and which have been established in therapeutic practice. 6. In this case, Cough syrup containing codeine phosphate has been recovered and the concentration of the codeine in this drug is approximately 0.2% which is less than 2.5% as provided in the above notification. 7. Learned APP appearing for the State has vehemently the application for bail and has submitted that in the case of Hira Singh and Anr. V. Union of India and Anr., the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that entire non-toxic material which is mixed with the contraband will be considered as the contraband and as such, the quantity which has been recovered from the possession of the petitioner is commercial quantity. 8. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that in view of Section 2(d) of the N.D.P.S. Act, the drug itself is not narcotic drug then there is no jurisdictional basis for the case and the Court would not have a reason to go into the question of quantities. The Central Government has power to issue notification time to time. Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.19278 of 2026(2) dt.10-04-2026 4/4 9. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is inclined to enlarge the petitioner on bail. The above named petitioner is directed to be enlarged on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- (Rs. ten thousand only) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Additional Sessions Judge 4th , Madhubani in connection with Harlakhi P.S. Case No. 16 of 2025. 10. Before parting, it is very strange that the cases where cough syrups containing codeine are recovered, the police is invariably filing cases under N.D.P.S. Act whereas in view of the notification of Central Government (supra) concentration of codeine being less than 2.5 %, the quantity does not come under the ambit of contraband. Cough syrup containing codeine is only a Schedule-H drug for which, the shopkeeper has to maintain register and he must be a licensed one. Such type of cases should be filed under Drugs and Cosmetic Act. It is only the violation of Drugs and Cosmetic Act whereas, police is invariably misusing the procedure. Shubham/- (Ashok Kumar Pandey, J) U T