HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Misc. 5th Bail Application No. 17392/2021
Gopal Saini S/o Shri Roopa, R/o Bisalpur Road, Ward No. 5,
Todaraisingh, Distt. Tonk. (Confined In Central Jail Ajmer)
----Petitioner
Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through Public Prosecutor.
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Mr.Rakesh Kumar
For Respondent(s) : Mr.Mangal Singh Saini
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE FARJAND ALI
Judgment / Order
08/11/2021
The instant 5th bail application under Section 439 Cr.P.C has been preferred on behalf of the petitioner, who is in judicial custody in connection with FIR No.239/2015, P.S. Nasirabad Sadar, Ajmer for the offence under Sections 8/20 and 8/29 of Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the State. Perused the material available on record.
As a matter of fact, this is 5th bail application preferred on behalf of petitioner Gopal Saini. The 4th bail application bearing SBCr.Misc. 4th Bail Appl. No. 3271/2020 came to be rejected by this court vide order dated 14.5.2020 observing the involvement of the petitioner in the case where recovery of commercial quantity of contraband was found. The petitioner has failed to (Downloaded on 15/11/2021 at 09:14:05 PM) (2 of 4) [CRLMB-17392/2021] show any significant change in the circumstance after rejection of 4th bail application. The instant 5th bail application is nothing but a review of the order dated 14.5.2020 which is not permissible under the law. Therefore, I am not inclined to grant bail to the present petitioner.
Accordingly, in view of above, the instant 5th bail application is disposed of with the aforesaid observations.
A perusal of the record of the case reveals that the matter is pending before the trial court since 2015, and more than 6 years have elapsed but the trial could not have been completed. As per the list of the witnesses attached with the charge-sheet, 40 witnesses have been projected by the prosecution, out of which, most of the witnesses are public servants being the police officials, surprisingly no effective steps have been taken to conclude the trial. Thus it is a case of infringment of fundamental right as guaranteed by the Constitution of India as every accused has a fundamental right of speedy trial.
It is not clear from the material available on record that who is responsible for the delay occurred during the course of trial; whether the witnesses are not being summoned properly by the learned trial court, or though the same are being issued to the witnesses but they are not appearing before the court for their cross-examination in trial. Yet, the things have remained undisputed that the petitioner is facing pending trial incarceration since last more than six years. The responsibility to ensure that (Downloaded on 15/11/2021 at 09:14:05 PM) (3 of 4) [CRLMB-17392/2021] the witnesses remain attended when they are summoned, is that of the prosecution.
This court has repeatedly issued directions to the Director General of Police to ensure that the official witnesses more particularly of the police department should remain present when they are summoned to depose before the trial court. Reference in this regard may be made to the order dated 1.12.2015 passed by the Principal Seat at Jodhpur in SBCr.Misc.Bail Appl. No. 9568/2015 (Ganesh Ram Vs.State of Raj.). However, it seems that these directions are being rampantly flouted regularly. From the facts noted above, it is apparent that prosecution has failed to fulfill the obligation caste upon as to secure the attendance of the witnesses for deposing before the trial court, but because of the lackadaisical approach of the prosecution, the accused petitioner continued to languish in jail for more than six years. Here only half of the projected witnesses could have been examined till date thus the conclusion of the trial may take further long time.
In this background, and having regard to the entirety of the facts & circumstances of the cases, this court directs the trial court to expedite the trial, and try to get it disposed as early as possible. At the same time, directions are issued to the Director General of Police, Jaipur to look into the matter and pass an appropriate instructions to the Nodal Officer as appointed by him in accordance with the directions passed by this court in Ganesh Ram's case (supra) to ensure the attendance of the police officials before the trial court as and when they are summoned to adduce evidence before the trial court.
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(4 of 4) [CRLMB-17392/2021] Let a copy of this order be directly sent to the concerned trial Court as well as the Director General of Police, Jaipur for compliance as aforesaid.
(FARJAND ALI),J SANDEEP RAWAT /23/30 (Downloaded on 15/11/2021 at 09:14:06 PM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)