Hotel room as public place under NDPS law means Section 42 safeguards did not apply to the search.

A hotel room occupied by a customer remains a public place for the purpose of Section 43 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, because the statutory explanation includes hotels as places intended for use by, or accessible to, the public. Temporary occupation by a guest does not convert the room into private property or change the hotel's character. On that basis, a search conducted there is treated as a search in a public place, and the objection based on non-compliance with Section 42 for a post-sunset search was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a hotel room occupied by a customer is a public place for the purpose of Section 43 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and whether a search made after sunset without recording grounds under Section 42 was illegal.

Analysis: The explanation to Section 43 expressly includes a hotel within the expression public place, as it is intended for use by or accessible to the public. A room in a hotel does not lose the character of a hotel merely because it is temporarily occupied by a customer, and the occupier does not acquire a private property right in it. On that basis, the Court held that the room remained a public place within the meaning of Section 43. As the search was made in a public place, the objection based on non-compliance with Section 42 was rejected.

Conclusion: A hotel room occupied by a customer is a public place under Section 43 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and the challenge to the search on the basis of Section 42 failed.

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