A positive urine test without forensic confirmation cannot alone establish a Section 27(b) NDPS offence.

On 7 July 2026, police received information that a person near Kudle Beach was behaving abnormally after allegedly consuming a narcotic substance.

The petitioner was apprehended and examined at the Primary Health Centre, Kumta; a medical certificate recorded a positive cannabis test.

A case was registered under Section 27(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), and proceedings commenced in C.C. No. 2065/2026.

The petitioner sought to quash those proceedings under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), arguing that no drug had been seized and the medical certificate did not establish the alleged offence.

1. Whether the material in the charge sheet, including the medical certificate, disclosed a prima facie offence under Section 27(b) of the NDPS Act

2. Whether continuation of the proceedings against the petitioner would amount to an abuse of the process of law warranting quashing under Section 528 of the BNSS

Section 27(b) of the NDPS Act prescribes punishment for consumption of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than those specified under clause (a).

Section 528 of the BNSS provides the High Court’s inherent power to prevent abuse of process and secure the ends of justice.

The Court considered whether the charge-sheet material prima facie established the ingredients of the alleged offence; it cited no precedents.

The Court noted that the prosecution relied on a government hospital certificate recording a positive cannabis test, but found that the certificate, without chemical examination in a Forensic Science Laboratory, did not establish that the petitioner had consumed a narcotic drug.

It also observed that no narcotic drug or psychotropic substance had been seized from him.

On that material, the Court held that the ingredients of Section 27(b) were not prima facie made out and that continuing the prosecution would be futile and an abuse of process.

Pending applications, if any, were disposed of.