The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that national security is of paramount importance and that an accused person can be denied bail when there is a “conflict between the sovereignty of the country and personal liberty” during a war waged against the nation, including narcotics supply.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N. Kotiswar Singh passed the judgment while upholding an appeal filed by the Punjab and Haryana governments challenging the bail granted by the high court to Balraj Singh, accused of running a narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS) racket from jail.
The appeal had been filed by the Punjab government challenging the judgment and order dated October 15, 2025, passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana granting bail to Balraj, who was arrested in January 2024 under the NDPS Act.
The case against Balraj is that he had asked two co-accused to supply 1.465kg of heroin to some people while he was in Central Jail in Goindwal Sahib. He was allegedly operating a drug trafficking network from the jail using mobile phones.
Allowing the appeal, Justice Karol recalled the apex court’s judgments in the Lalrintluanga Sailo, State by the Inspector of Police vs B. Ramu and other cases wherein it was held that in matters relating to drug-related offences of commercial quantities, courts must necessarily examine “consideration on the twin conditions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act” while granting bail to an accused.
The twin conditions are that the public prosecutor must be given an opportunity to be heard and the stringent bail conditions imposed in NDPS cases are in addition to similar limitations provided under the BNSS, which bars bail in serious offences.
“Upon consideration of the case of the respondent against the twin conditions laid down in Section 37, we are of the view that no case for bail is made out. There are antecedents involving commission of offences of the very same nature under the NDPS Act. Therefore, it cannot be said that he is not likely to commit such an offence while on bail,” Justice Karol said.
The bench referred to the recent decision of the apex court to refer the question of granting bail on account of prolonged jail in serious offences like UAPA, NDPS, TADA, and POTA to a larger bench, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the bail denial to Delhi riots accused Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
“...Should there be any conflict between the sovereignty of a country and personal liberty, undoubtedly, the former shall prevail, particularly, when a war is waged against the nation, be it in the form of supply of drugs, which vitally affects the national economy and health of the people,” Justice Karol said.