Nona Shereen Saine Ahammed vs. Hon. Attorney General and Officer in Charge – CA BAL/0115/23-2023

In the case between Nona Shereen Saine Ahammed (Petitioner, on behalf of her husband Nanda Kumar Shivanandan) and the Attorney General’s Department alongside the Officer in Charge, Police Narcotic Bureau (Respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether “exceptional circumstances” existed, under the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Act No. 41 of 2022, to justify granting bail to a suspect accused of heroin possession and trafficking. It was held that the facts submitted by the petitioner did not meet the statutory threshold for exceptional circumstances necessary for bail, given the recovery of heroin, satellite phones, and cash, and in light of the evidentiary record. The principle reaffirmed is that rigorous statutory and judicial standards govern bail in serious narcotics cases,