Overview
- Sessions Judge K. Sanilkumar on November 1 granted regular bail to Dhanesh, a barber accused of keeping a 10 ml bottle of IMFL in his Valanchery shop.
- Calling the case something that "can happen only in a banana republic," the court said the investigating officer overstepped his limits and displayed excessive zeal.
- The order noted Kerala law allows up to three litres of IMFL for personal possession and questioned the rationale for arrest and remand over such a negligible quantity.
- Bail was set at a ₹10,000 bond with two solvent sureties, with conditions not to tamper with evidence or commit further offences after seven days in custody.
- The court urged police sensitisation and higher-level review of the officer’s conduct, as legal commentators flagged a wider pattern of excise-law overreach and state police had not issued a response.