Date Of Decision : 22.05.2025 vs State Of Himachal Pradesh
2025 Latest Caselaw 5923 HP

Himachal Pradesh High Court

Date Of Decision : 22.05.2025 vs State Of Himachal Pradesh on 22 May, 2025

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                                                                               2025:HHC:15416




    IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
                                        Cr. MP(M) No.562 of 2025
                                        Date of Decision : 22.05.2025


Rishabh Negi                                                      ...... Petitioner
                                Versus

State of Himachal Pradesh               ......Respondent.
_________________________________________________________
Coram:

The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bipin Chander Negi, Judge
Whether approved for reporting?1

For the petitioner     :        Ms. Suman Thakur and Mr. Ravinder Singh Thakur,
                                Advocates.

For the respondent :            Mr. Diwakar Dev Sharma, Additional Advocate General.

Bipin Chander Negi, Judge (oral)

The present bail petition has been filed under Section 483 of the

Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) for grant of regular bail, arising

out of FIR No.51/2024 dated 16.12.2024, registered at Police Station, Deha,

District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, for an offence punishable under Sections 21 &

29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

2. ASI Sheetal Prakash, I/O Police Station, Deha, District Shimla, is

present along with record. Status report stands filed. The same is taken on

record.

3. Status report perused. I have heard learned counsel for the parties.

Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

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4. The incident, in the case at hand is dated 16.12.2024. On the said

date, the Police party concerned was on patrolling duty in an area Balag-Naina.

One of the objective of the Police party was to check the drug menace in the

aforesaid area. At about 8:15 a.m., Police party, in the case at hand reached

Balag Nullah. At that particular point in time, one white coloured car was parked

on the side of the road. The car was facing towards Sainj. The car was an Alto

K10 make bearing number HP-10-1414. There were three people who were

sitting inside the car.

5. Upon inquiry by the Police party, as to why the car was parked in

solitude, they got perplexed and could not assign any satisfactory reason. Foul

smell was emanating from the car. On inquiry, the Driver of the car disclosed his

name to be Ankush. The bail petitioner was sitting in the co-driver seat. An

individual named Lucky Thakur was sitting on the rear seat.

6. On search of the vehicle, one packet kept underneath the mat was

recovered from the seat adjacent to the seat of the Driver. The contraband

recovered was found to be Heroin. The weight of the contraband was found to be

10.23 grams. The bail petitioner was arrested on 16.12.2024 and is presently in

judicial custody.

7. Challan in the case stands filed on 13.02.2025. Investigation in the

case at hand is complete. Nothing is to be recovered from the bail petitioner.

The quantity of the contraband involved is an intermediate quantity. The vehicle

from which the contraband was recovered is owned by the bail petitioner.

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8. In coming to the determination that whether the party, if admitted to

bail, would appear to take trial, three elements need to be kept in mind, namely

the charge, the nature of evidence by which it is supported and the punishment to

which the party would be liable, if convicted. At the time of deciding a bail

application, a detailed discussion of evidence, so collected and produced by the

prosecution is to be avoided as it may cause prejudice either to the case of the

prosecution or to the case of the bail petitioner. Guilt is to be ascertained at the

trial.

9. The consequences of pre-trial incarceration are grave. A person

presumed innocent is subjected to psychological and physical deprivations of jail.

Further, a jailed individual is prevented from contributing to the preparation of his

defence. The burden of his detention falls heavily on the innocent members of his

family.

10. The object of bail is to secure the attendance of the accused person

at his trial by reasonable amount of bail. The object of bail is neither punitive nor

preventative.

11. Personal liberty is a very precious fundamental right. The same is to

be curtailed only when it becomes imperative, according to the peculiar facts and

circumstances of each case. Punishment begins after conviction. Nothing

unfavourable has been stated in the status report qua the social circumstances of

the petitioner, whereby it can be made out that the petitioner is likely to betray the

confidence that the Court may place in him to turn out to take justice at the hands

of the Court. As per the status report, bail petitioner is stated to be a resident of

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Village Near Poly-technical College, Tehsil Rohru, District Shimla. In order to

ensure his presence at trial stringent conditions can be imposed while granting

bail.

12. The respondent-State has not expressed any apprehension

regarding his fleeing from the course of justice and adversely affecting the trial. In

any case, the petitioner can be put to terms for the purposes of safe, secure and

unobstructed completion of trial.

13. Hence, after going through the material available on record and

considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, this Court finds that

the present is a fit case where judicial discretion to admit the petitioner on bail is

required to be exercised in his favour. Accordingly, the bail application is allowed

and it is ordered that the petitioner, who has been arrested by the police, in case

FIR No.51/2024 dated 16.12.2024, registered at Police Station, Deha, District

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, for an offence punishable under Sections 21 & 29 of

the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, shall be forthwith

released on bail, subject to his furnishing personal bond to the tune of Rs.

50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) with one surety in the like amount, to the

satisfaction of learned trial Court. This bail order is subject, however, to the

following conditions:-.

(i) Petitioner shall attend the trial Court on each and every date of hearing and if prevented by any reason to do so, seek exemption from appearance by filing appropriate application;

(ii). Petitioner shall not tamper with the evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner whatsoever;

(iii) Petitioner will not leave India without prior permission of the Court;

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(iv) Petitioner shall not make any inducement, threat or promise, directly or indirectly, to the victim and Investigating Officer or any person acquainted with the facts of the case to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the Court or any Police Officer;

(v). Petitioner shall inform the Station House Officer of the concerned police station about his place of residence during bail and trial. Any change in the same shall also be communicated within two weeks thereafter. Petitioner shall furnish details of his Aadhar Card, Telephone Numbers, Email, PAN Card, Bank Account Number, if any; &

(vi). It is made clear that in case petitioner is arraigned as an accused, in future, in any FIR, then his bail is liable to be cancelled. It is open for the Investigating Agency to move appropriate application in that regard.

14. Needless to say that the Investigating agency shall be at liberty to

move this Court for cancellation of the bail, if any of the aforesaid conditions are

violated by the petitioner.

15. Be it stated that any expression of opinion given in this order does

not mean an expression of opinion on the merits of the case and the trial Court

will not be influenced by any observations made therein.

16. The Registry is directed to forward a soft copy of the bail order to

the Superintendent, District Jail, Kaithu, Shimla, H.P., through e-mail, with a

direction to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-prison software.

17. In case, the petitioner is not released within a period of seven days

from the date of grant of bail, the Superintendent, District Jail, Kaithu, Shimla,

H.P., is directed to inform this fact to the Secretary, DLSA, Shimla. The

Superintendent, District Jail, Kaithu, Shimla, H.P., is further directed that if the

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petitioner fail to furnish the bail bonds, as per the order passed by this Court,

within a period of one month from today, the said fact be submitted to this Court.

18. The petition stand accordingly disposed of. A copy of this order be

sent to the Superintendent, District Jail, Kaithu, Shimla, H.P. and the learned trial

Court by FASTER.

19. A downloaded copy of this order shall be accepted by the learned

Trial Court while accepting the bail bonds from the petitioner and in case, said

Court intends to ascertain the veracity of the downloaded copy of the order

presented to it, same may be ascertained from the official website of this Court.

                                                    ( Bipin Chander Negi)
May 22, 2025 (KS)                                             Judge


                                                                  DN: C=IN, O=HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL



                                              VANDNA              HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA,
                                                                  Phone=d3b84f3143a60e693f007f9c5e0fe88
                                                                  152279f1d9f450a0255823cfc38862034,
                                                                  PostalCode=171001, S=Himachal Pradesh,
                                                                  SERIALNUMBER=3a417623218f5838c6af7

                                              SHARMA              9de7dc1906f731266758b23a4f74fad98f002
                                                                  2165e3, CN=VANDNA SHARMA
                                                                  Reason: I am the author of this document
                                                                  Location:
                                                                  Date: 2025-05-22 18:23:41