Ignorance of law no excuse to break it, says Bombay HC; refuses to quash case against pharma firm director

Mumbai: Ignorance of law is no excuse for breaking it, the Bombay High Court said while refusing to quash a case against the director of a pharmaceutical firm for allegedly exporting a chemical declared as a contraband substance without the requisite certificate mandated in law.

Law enforcement machinery shall come to a grinding halt if ignorance is accepted as a defence, the high court said in its order passed on Monday.

Ajay Melwani, director of Vivalavita Pharmaceuticals, sought quashing of a 2019 FIR lodged against him under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act by the anti-drug department of the city police's crime branch.

In his plea, the accused sought quashing of the case claiming that the 2018 government notification including the chemical under the list of contraband substance was not publicised and hence, his firm was not aware that a no objection certificate (NOC) was required before its export.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Neela Gokhale on July 22 dismissed the petition and refused to quash the case noting that it is a settled legal position that ignorance of law is no defence to a criminal charge.

The bench, however, extended for four weeks a March 2023 order passed by the high court restraining the investigating agency from filing its chargesheet against Melwani.

"Ignorance of law is no excuse for breaking it, is one of the essential principles of jurisprudence," the court said dismissing the plea.

The rationale behind this principle is that if ignorance was an excuse, every person who is charged for any offence or involved in a crime would merely claim that he was unaware of the law in question in order to avoid liability, even though he was well aware of the consequences of breaking the law, it added.

"The law enforcement machinery shall come to a grinding halt if ignorance is accepted as a defence. It can also lead to mishandling of law on the part of law breakers and this can never be the intention of Legislature to protect the law breakers by providing a shield of ignorance," HC said.

The bench noted that the petitioner's company, which engaged in the business of export-import of pharmaceutical products and allied substances, cannot be believed to be ignorant of the rules and regulations governing the said business.

"The applicant (Melwani) is a regular purchaser of chemicals from manufacturing companies. He is aware of the dynamics of the business since 2012. Apprising and updating himself with the ever-changing developments in the export-import legislations and rules and regulations thereof must obviously be regular activity of the company and its officials," the HC said.

The bench said the allegations in the FIR taken at the face value prima facie disclose commission of a cognizable offence.

The prosecution case is that one Sam Fine O Chem Ltd., a company engaged in the manufacture of chemicals, had exported 1,000 kg of a controlled substance, N-Phenethyl-4 Piperidone, to a Italian company through Melwani's firm Vivalavita without the mandatory NOC.

According to police, in the year 2018, N-Phenethyl-4 Piperidone was included as a contraband substance under the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Regulation of Controlled Substances) Order. Hence the export of the same requires the 'no objection' certificate of the Narcotics Commissioner.

Additional public prosecutor Ashish Satpute argued that the export was done without procuring the required NOC.

Satpute argued that a complaint has also been filed against officers of the customs department for failing to check the requirements of the export and to verify adherence of compliance.

The petitioner claimed that the amendment adding said chemical in Schedule B of the NDPS Order was not publicised by the government nor were its own statutory authorities aware about the same.

As per the plea, the amended notification was uploaded on the government website only in 2019.