Illegal custody and delayed production before court vitiate arrest, allowing bail despite NDPS Act restrictions.

Continuous custody of an accused after interception, without production before the nearest Magistrate or Special Court within the prescribed time, renders the arrest unlawful and vitiates the detention. The Court treated the applicant as being in custody from interception at the airport, noted that he remained under Customs control while in hospital, and found that the required procedure for forwarding an arrested person was not followed. On that basis, the Court relied on constitutional protection of personal liberty and held that illegal custody cannot be cured by the bail restrictions under the NDPS Act. Bail was therefore granted despite Section 37.

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Issues: Whether the applicant was kept in illegal custody and whether the arrest was vitiated for failure to produce him before the nearest Magistrate or Special Court within the prescribed time, thereby entitling him to bail notwithstanding the restrictions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act.

Analysis: The applicant was intercepted at the airport, moved to hospital, and kept there under continuous control of Customs officers through handing over and taking over memoranda, but was not produced before any Magistrate or Special Court during the period of detention. The record also reflected that the authorities treated the case as one involving specific intelligence and continued detention while the applicant remained in hospital, without following the required legal procedure for arrest and forwarding of the person arrested. In these circumstances, the Court held that the applicant was in custody from the time of interception and that his continued detention without timely production before the competent court was unlawful. The Court relied on the constitutional protection of personal liberty and the principle that illegal arrest or custody cannot be validated by invoking the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act.

Conclusion: The applicant was held to have been kept in illegal custody and his arrest was found to be vitiated; bail was therefore granted despite the NDPS restrictions.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an accused is kept in continuous custody without lawful production before the competent court within the prescribed time, the arrest is vitiated and bail may be granted notwithstanding statutory bail restrictions.

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