Himachal Pradesh High Court
Rajinder Giri vs State Of H.P on 30 November, 2023
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.
Cr.M.P(M) No. 2952 of 2023 .
Reserved on : 29.11.2023
Decided on: 30th November, 2023
Rajinder Giri .......Applicant
Versus
State of H.P. ...Respondent
of
Coram
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Virender Singh, Judge.
For the applicant:
rt Whether approved for reporting?1 Mr. George, Advocate For the respondent: Mr. Tejasvi Sharma, Addl. A.G with Ms. Leena Guleria, Dy. A.G assisted by ASI Dev Dutt, I.O., Police Station, Sadar, Mandi.
Virender Singh, Judge.
By way of present application, under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.PC'), applicant-Rajinder Giri has sought his release, on bail, during the pendency of trial, in case FIR No. 56 of 2020, dated 18th February, 2020, registered with Police Station Sadar Mandi, District Mandi, H.P., under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as 'NDPS Act').
1 Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.::: Downloaded on - 02/12/2023 20:31:42 :::CIS 2
2. According to the applicant, he has been arrested on 18th February, 2020 on the ground of allegedly possessing .
contraband weighing 1.154 kgs charas. After the investigation of the case, according to the applicant, the police has submitted the charge-sheet before the Court of of learned Special Judge-II, Mandi, District Mandi, H.P.
3. The prosecution has cited 16 witnesses and the evidence of the prosecution is not yet complete. As such, on rt the ground of delayed trial, it has been prayed that the applicant may kindly released on bail, as he is in judicial custody for the last three years and nine months.
4. Apart from this, relief has also been sought on the ground that the I.O. has not complied with provisions under Section 52-A of the NDPS Act.
5. On the basis of above facts, Mr. George, learned Counsel appearing for the applicant, has given certain undertakings, for which, the applicant is ready to abide by, in case, he is ordered to be released on bail, during the pendency of the trial.
6. To buttress his contention, learned counsel for the applicant has relied upon the decisions of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Cr.M.P(M) No. 1139 of 2023 titled as ::: Downloaded on - 02/12/2023 20:31:42 :::CIS 3 Ashok Kumar vs. State of H.P and Cr.M.P(M) No. 493 of 2023 titled as Madan Lal vs. State of H.P. .
7. Along-with the application, the applicant has also placed on record the photocopies of the zimini orders passed by the learned trial Court. This has been done in order to of demonstrate that there is inordinate delay in conclusion of the trial.
8. When put to notice, the police has filed the status rt report, disclosing therein, that the applicant was found in conscious and exclusive possession of 1.154 kgs charas, while travelling in bus No. HP-68-7585 enroute from Manali to Kangra, which was allegedly intercepted at Bindrabani by I.O. S.I. Manoj Walia, Incharge SIU, Mandi.
8.1. The investigation was conducted and the contraband, so recovered, was sent to SFSL, Junga after receiving the positive report, the challan was filed in the competent Court of law on 27.05.2020. According to the police, only one witness remains to be examined and the statements of other witnesses have been recorded. The case is now stated to be fixed on 02.04.2024.
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made to dismiss the application.
9. The applicant has approached this Court on the ground of delayed trial. The contraband allegedly recovered of from the possession of applicant is commercial quantity of charas, as such, rigors of Section 37 of the NDPS Act are not applicable, in the present case.
rt
10. So far as the law relied upon by the learned counsel for the applicant is concerned, with due respect to the decisions rendered by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court, the same are not applicable to the facts and circumstances of the present case, as in the present case, out of 16 witnesses cited by the prosecution, only one witness has been left to be examined.
11. On 21.10.2023, the learned trial Court has passed the following order:-
"Remaining PW was summoned for today. No PW present. Request on behalf of Insp. Sushma Kapoor, received which is considered and allowed for the reasons stated therein for today only. Let, PW SI Sushma Kapoor, be summoned for 02.04.2024.::: Downloaded on - 02/12/2023 20:31:42 :::CIS 5
The custody of accused is further handed over back to jail till 02.04.2024, on the said date, he be .
produced before this court at 10AM sharp for further orders."
12. Witness SI Sushma Kapoor has been ordered to be cited as a witness by the learned trial Court vide order dated of 02.08.2023.
13. Perusal of the order dated 02.08.2023 passed by the learned trial Court shows that the application has been rt allowed by the learned trial Court in view of no objection made by learned counsel for the applicant and SI Sushma Kapoor has been ordered to be summoned for 23.09.2023.
14. On 21.10.2023, the matter was ordered to be adjourned for 02.04.2024. The applicant is in judicial custody from the date of his arrest i.e. 18.02.2020. In such situation, although this Court is satisfied with the pace of trial, but, it is a fit case where a direction is required to be issued to the learned Special Judge-II, Mandi to prepone the date fixed for recording the evidence of the prosecution witness and conclude the trial on or before 31st December, 2023.
15. In order to achieve the said goal, the learned trial Court is at a liberty to prepone the date, so fixed and can also ::: Downloaded on - 02/12/2023 20:31:42 :::CIS 6 resort to record the statement of the witness through video conferencing, as per Video Conferencing Rules.
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15. Consequently, there is no occasion for this Court to release the applicant solely on the ground of delay in trial, at this stage. Hence, the application is dismissed, however, of with a direction to the learned trial Court to conclude the trial on or before 31st December, 2023.
16. Any of the observations, made hereinabove, shall rt not be taken as an expression of opinion, on the merits of the case, as these observations, are confined, only, to the disposal of the present bail application.
November 30, 2023 ( Virender Singh )
(naveen) Judge
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