Holding that India’s sovereignty must prevail over personal liberty, particularly in cases involving the supply of drugs that affected public health and the national economy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the bail of a Punjab man accused in a drugs trafficking case.“Should there be any conflict between the sovereignty of country and personal liberty, undoubtedly, the former shall prevail, particularly, when a war is waged against the nation, be it in the form of supply of drugs, which vitally affects the national economy and health of the people,” a bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said.“In our view paramount consideration is nothing but the interest of justice for all,” the bench said, setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order granting bail to a man accused of operating a drug-trafficking network from inside a jail using mobile phones.A special court at Tarn Taran rejected Balraj Singh’s bail plea on July 3, 2025. However, the high court granted him bail, saying criminal antecedents alone could not justify denial of bail and that the trial was likely to take time to conclude.Setting aside the high court’s order, the bench said the high court failed to consider the mandatory twin conditions under Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 governing the grant of bail in cases involving commercial quantities of narcotic substances.It allowed the Punjab Government’s appeal against the October 15, 2025 order of the high court releasing accused Balraj Singh alias Billa on bail.Before granting bail in NDPS cases, Section 37 requires the court to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail, it said, adding the high court failed to examine if the statutory requirements under Section 37 were met before granting bail.The accused was booked under Sections 21(c), 29, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act after police allegedly seized 1.465 kg heroin from two persons travelling in a Mahindra XUV 300 near Veeram village in Punjab. He was accused of operating a drug trafficking network from inside the jail using illegal mobile phones. The accused, however, contended that he had been falsely implicated in the case.Drug dealers must be dealt with firm handNoting that drug dealers must be dealt with a very firm hand as they were systematically destroying the lives of the youth ‘generation after generation’, another bench of the top court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to a Tamil Nadu man accused in a drugs case.“People dealing with drugs will have to be dealt with a very firm hand. They are destroying the lives of youths of this country generation after generation,” a bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice V Mohana said, while dismissing the petition.The bench upheld the Madras High Court’s order rejecting the sixth attempt of the accused to secure bail.The accused was arrested in June 2022 in a case registered under the provisions of the NDPS Act after the petitioner and another accused were caught with a bag and 21 MDMA-ecstasy tablets weighing approximately 10.15 g were seized from the bag. The third accused managed to flee.