The Tripura High Court has granted bail to an accused person of an NDPS case after finding that the investigating officer failed to comply with statutory requirements relating to communicating the grounds of arrest.

A single bench headed by Justice Biswajit Palit, in an order passed on September 30 allowed the bail petition filed on behalf of Srikumar Debbarma, who had been in custody since May 5, 2026.

According to the order copy, Debbarma was allegedly found carrying a blue bag at platform No. 1 of Agartala Railway Station during a police checking operation on May 5. Police recovered 40 bottles of suspected Eskuf cough syrup containing codeine phosphate from the bag.

The Agartala Government Railway Police Station subsequently registered a case under Sections 21(C) and 29 of the NDPS Act and arrested Debbarma. His earlier bail application before the concerned court had been rejected.

Before the High Court, Debbarma's counsel argued that the mandatory grounds of arrest had not been properly communicated to him. The counsel pointed to discrepancies in the arrest documents, including a reference to the grounds being explained in Bengali and Kokborok in one part of the document and in Hindi in another.

The prosecution opposed the bail plea, submitting that the grounds of arrest had been duly communicated and that the accused had signed the arrest memo. It also suggested that the reference to the language used could have been a typographical error.

The High Court examined the arrest documents and found discrepancies in the communication of the grounds of arrest. It noted that one part of the document stated that the grounds had been communicated in Bengali and Kokborok, while the declaration at the bottom stated that they had been communicated in the accused poerson’s mother tongue, described there as Hindi.

The court also noted that the document did not state that the accused knew Hindi and observed that the documentary evidence indicated that he belonged to the Mandai area under West Agartala police station. 

The court described the investigating officer's conduct as showing “total callousness and negligence” in complying with the directions of the Supreme Court concerning communication of the grounds of arrest.

Referring to the Supreme Court's September 21, 2026 judgment in Jaskaran Jeet Singh Deol v. State of Punjab, the High Court reiterated that the grounds of arrest must be communicated in writing in a language understood by the arrested person.

The court held that the investigating officer had failed to ensure compliance with the relevant provisions of the BNSS and that the arrest communication had been prepared without proper application of mind. It consequently allowed the bail petition.

Debbarma was ordered to be released on a Rs 50,000 bond with two sureties of the same amount, subject to conditions including weekly appearance before the court, restrictions on leaving its jurisdiction without permission and a direction not to tamper with evidence.

The High Court also directed the Public Prosecutor to take up the matter with the appropriate police authority for initiating departmental proceedings against the investigating officer. The DGP's office was asked to circulate a copy of the order to all police stations in the state.

Advocate Kundan Pandey represented the petitioner.