Bombay High Court quashes drug case against actress Mamta Kulkarni: says charges against her are “frivolous and vexatious”
Last Updated on August 8, 2024 by News Desk
Recently, the Bombay High Court quashed the 2016 drug case against former actress Mamta Kulkarni saying that the charges against her were frivolous and vexatious, and did not prima facie constitute any offence against her.
“We are of clear opinion that the petitioner (Ms. Kulkarni) had a fit case where we should exercise our inherent powers since the proceedings are manifestly frivolous and vexatious. We are satisfied that the continuation of the prosecution against the petitioner would be nothing short of abuse of process of court.” The court order stated.
The bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjushawhile quashing the case, further observed that “the material collected even on being accepted in entirety, does not prima facie constitute any offence against the Petitioner”.
The brief facts of the case were that the Thane Police arrested two persons for allegedly possessing 2 kg of ephedrine, a narcotic substance on April 2016 and the case under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered. After the investigation, police arrested 10 accused.
Kulkarni was alleged to have been present during the meetings with one of the co-accused, Vicky Goswami, at a hotel in Kenya where the sale and purchase of narcotic substances occurred. Therefore, she was booked by the police under the above-said act.
Advocates V.M. Thorat and Madhav Thorat, representing Kulkarni, argued and appealed to cancel the charges against her as no direct evidence was found proving her presence in the meetings. It was claimed that she had been falsely implicated in the case because she had an acquaintance with the accused.
The court agreed with the contentions and observed that the statements of the co-accused were not supported by enough evidence to sustain the charges against her and thus, not admissible in law.
“On perusal of the entire material contained in the chargesheet, we are of the view that this material is not sufficient to sustain a charge against her under the NDPS Act and specifically under Section 8(c) (consumption of drugs) as well as 9(a) (Power of Central Government to permit, control and regulate).” The court observed.
Case title: Mamta Mukund Kulkarni v. State of Maharashtra
Written by Shagun Behal
