JAIPUR,The Rajasthan High Court has ruled that merely owning a vehicle is not sufficient to make a person an accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in a drug-related case.

The court said the prosecution must establish that the vehicle owner had knowledge of the illegal activity or knowingly permitted the vehicle to be used for possessing, concealing or transporting narcotic substances.

A bench headed by Justice Anil Kumar Upman observed that the word “knowingly” used in Section 25 of the NDPS Act is significant. Mere registered ownership of a vehicle cannot automatically lead to an assumption that the owner was aware of its alleged use for an illegal activity.

Prosecution Must Establish Knowledge

The High Court noted that the prosecution had failed to establish, even prima facie, that the co-accused were transporting the prohibited substance in the particular vehicle in question.

The court said that when the basic fact linking the vehicle to the alleged transportation itself is not established, a person cannot be held criminally liable merely because the vehicle is registered in their name.

The prosecution must first produce substantive prima facie evidence showing that the owner was aware of the vehicle's misuse. Only then can the legal concept relating to criminal intent be invoked, the court held.

348 Kg of Narcotic Substance Recovered

The case involved the recovery of 348 kilograms of a narcotic substance from a car. During the investigation, authorities found that the vehicle was registered in the name of the accused, who was subsequently made a co-accused in the case.

The trial court, however, acquitted the accused after considering the evidence. The Rajasthan government challenged the acquittal before the High Court.

The High Court dismissed the state's appeal and upheld the lower court's decision to acquit the accused, reiterating that vehicle ownership by itself does not establish knowledge, consent or criminal involvement in an NDPS offence.