India, Oct. 7 -- Observing that the gravity of an offence cannot, by itself, justify indefinite pre-trial incarceration, the High Court of J&K and Ladakh has granted bail to an accused in a drug trafficking case, holding that the material relied upon by the prosecution was not, at this stage, sufficiently compelling to attract the statutory rigour of Section 37 of the NDPS Act.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Parihar passed the order on a bail plea filed by Khayal Shafi Badana, noting that no contraband or other incriminating material had been recovered from his possession.

The court further observed that the call detail records relied upon by the prosecution merely established contact between Badana and the principal accused but did not disc...