Jammu & Kashmir High Court
Showkat Ali vs Ut Of J&K And Anr on 29 October, 2021
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH
AT JAMMU
Reserved on 20.10.2021
Pronounced on 29.10.2021
Bail App No. 202/2020
Showkat Ali .....Appellant/Petitioner(s)
Through :- Mr. Sunil Sethi, Sr. Advocate with
Mr. Navyug Sethi, Advocate
v/s
UT of J&K and anr. .....Respondent(s)
Through :- Mr. Vishal Bharti, Dy. AG
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNESH OSWAL, JUDGE
JUDGMENT
1. The present application has been filed by the petitioner, seeking
bail, who is facing trial in challan, titled, 'State vs. Showkat Ali', pending
before the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Udhampur (hereinafter
to be referred as the trial court) for commission of offences under sections
8/15/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for
short the NDPS Act) on the ground that he was arrested in a false and frivolous
case and is suffering from serious morbidity.
2. It is contended that the petitioner has been wrongly and falsely
implicated in highly motivated and baseless FIR No. 2/2020 registered with
Police Station Udhampur for commission of offences under sections 8, 15 and
29 of the NDPS Act. The allegations against the petitioner are that on the night
of 03.01.2020 at Jekhani Point Naka, the Truck bearing No. 6802/PB-1A,
which was being driven by the petitioner that was coming from Srinagar and
going to Punjab carrying vegetables and fruits, was stopped by the Police party
and subjected to physical checking and during checking, the Police party found
five gunny bags containing poppy straw weighing 85 kg. On this, FIR No.
02/2020 for commission of offences under sections 8/15/29 of NDPS Act came
to be registered with the Police station, Udhampur against the petitioner and
the petitioner was arrested on 04.02.2020.
3. After the investigation of the matter, challan for commission of
offences under section 8/15/29 of NDPS Act has been presented before the trial
court. The petitioner approached the trial court for grant of bail on merits of the
case as well as on medical grounds, however, the learned trial court vide order
dated 27.07.2020 rejected the said bail application. Hence, the present
application.
4. Objections/status report stand filed by the respondents, in which
besides narrating the factual aspects of the case, it is stated that petitioner is
involved in a heinous offence and keeping in view the gravity of offence
committed by the petitioner, bail application filed by the petitioner deserves to
be dismissed.
5. Mr. Sunil Sethi, learned senior counsel for the petitioner submits
that the petitioner is a young man of 20 years and is only the sole bread earner
of his family. The petitioner is in custody for the last more than 20 months. He
further submits that the petitioner was not aware as to what was loaded in the
truck besides vegetables and fruits and further the material was loaded in the
truck on the instructions of the owner of the truck, namely, Mohd [email protected]
Kala-co-accused. He further submits that the petitioner is suffering from
serious ailments and has also placed on record the medical prescription
regarding his ailment. As such, the petitioner be enlarged on bail.
6. Per contra, Mr. Vishal Bharti, learned Dy. AG appearing for the
respondents has vehemently submitted that the quantity of contraband
recovered from the petitioner falls within the category of commercial quantity,
as such, petitioner does not deserve to be enlarged on bail. He further argued
that the learned trial court has examined the health status of the petitioner and
has rightly come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the medical report
that the accused is suffering from any life threatening disease, for which he
requires treatment outside the jail and enlarged on bail.
7. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
8. This is an admitted fact that the petitioner was arrested on
04.02.2020 and since then he is in custody. This Court vide order dated
18.12.2020, directed the respondents to obtain a medical report from the
concerned District Jail. The Superintendent of District Jail, Udhampur vide
communication dated 13.02.2021 has stated that the petitioner has been
medically checked up from time to time and treatment advised by the doctors
has been provided to him. The Medical Officer, District Jail, Udhampur vide
letter dated 02.03.2021 addressed to the Superintendent of District Jail,
Udhampur has stated that the Doctor of the said hospital has medically
examined the accused and found him symptomatically better and advised
medicine for the underlying disease and the treatment so prescribed has been
provided to him.
8. The applicant is facing trial for commission of offence under
sections 8/15/29 of the NDPS Act. It is not disputed by the learned counsel for
the petitioner that the alleged contraband involved in the case falls within the
category of commercial quantity and rigors of section 37 of the Act applies in
the case.. The contention of the applicant that the petitioner is suffering from
renal stones, can be taken care of by directing the Superintendent, District Jail
Udhampur to provide the petitioner all the medical facilities taking into
consideration his health condition. So far as the contention of the petitioner
regarding conscious possession is concerned, the same is matter of trial.
9. In view of this, no case for bail is made out and, as such, this
application for grant of bail is dismissed. The Superintendent of District Jail
Udhampur shall provide all the medical facilities to the petitioner.
10. Registry to send a copy of this order to the Superintendent of
District Jail, Udhampur for information and compliance.
(Rajnesh Oswal)
Judge
JAMMU
29.10.2021
Karam Chand/Secy
Whether the order is speaking: Yes/No
Whether the order is reportable: Yes/No
