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Issues: Whether the expression "search any person" in Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 includes a bag, briefcase, container or similar article carried by the person, and whether non-compliance with Section 50 was correctly treated by the High Court as vitiating the conviction.
Analysis: The word "person" was construed according to its plain, literal and ordinary meaning. The definitions in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the General Clauses Act, 1897 did not enlarge the term to include articles such as bags, briefcases or containers carried by a human being. Those articles are distinct from the body of a person and cannot, in common legal parlance, be treated as part of the person searched. The protection under Section 50 therefore applies to a search of the person himself and not to search of a bag or similar article carried by him. Since the High Court proceeded on the footing that Section 50 was attracted on these facts, its conclusion was unsustainable. As other grounds urged in the appeal had not been examined by the High Court, the matter required reconsideration on those remaining grounds.
Conclusion: Section 50 does not extend to search of a bag, briefcase or similar container carried by the accused, and the High Court's acquittal on the ground of non-compliance with Section 50 was unsustainable; the matter was remitted for decision on the remaining grounds.
Ratio Decidendi: The statutory expression "search any person" is confined to the human body of the accused and does not include articles carried by him; consequently, Section 50 is not attracted to search of such articles.
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