Mandatory Section 50 notice under NDPS law: failure to inform the suspect of the right vitiated the search and conviction.

Section 50 of the NDPS Act requires the empowered officer to inform a suspect of the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate, and strict compliance is mandatory. Informing the accused only that he could be searched before such an officer if he wished was insufficient because it did not communicate the existence of the right itself. Non-compliance invalidated the personal search and vitiated the proceedings, leading to the conviction and sentence being set aside.

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Issues: Whether the empowered officer, while conducting a personal search under Section 50 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, was required to apprise the accused of his right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate, and whether non-compliance vitiated the conviction.

Analysis: Section 50 casts an on the empowered officer to inform the suspect of the existence of the right to be searched before a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate if so required. The record showed only that the accused was told he could be searched before such officer if he wished; this did not amount to informing him of the right itself. The procedure is mandatory and requires strict compliance, and the search of the person must follow only after the suspect is made aware of that right and chooses not to exercise it.

Conclusion: Non-compliance with the mandatory requirement under Section 50 invalidated the search and vitiated the proceedings. The conviction and sentence were set aside, and relief was granted in favour of the appellant.

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