Kerala High Court
Arun Kumar vs State Of Kerala on 27 January, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK MENON
WEDNESDAY, THE 27TH DAY OF JANUARY 2021 / 7TH MAGHA, 1942
Bail Appl..No.993 OF 2021
AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT IN CRMP 86/2021 DATED 14-01-2021 OF
FIRST ADDITIONAL SESSIONS COURT, THRISSUR
CRIME NO.1032/2020 OF Chalakkudy Police Station, Thrissur
PETITIONER/S:
ARUN KUMAR, AGED 33 YEARS,
KONNAYIL THEKKETHIL VEEDU,
SAKTHIKULANGARA DESOM, SAKTHIKULANGARA VILLAGE,
SAKTHIKULANGARA P O, KOLLAM DISTRICT
691581
BY ADVS.
SRI.C.S.SUMESH
SRI.K.G.KAILASNADH
RESPONDENT/S:
STATE OF KERALA
REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,
HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM
682031
R1 BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
SRI.SANTHOSH PETERSR PP
THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
27.01.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
Bail Appl..No.993 OF 2021
2
ORDER
Dated this the 27th day of January 2021
The applicant has approached this Court a
second time seeking bail under Section 439 of the
Cr.P.C. He is the second accused in Crime
No.1032/2020 of Chalakudy Police Station,
Thrissur, for having allegedly committed offences
punishable under Section 20(b)(ii) C of the NDPS
Act, 1985. The final report has been filed and the
matter is presently pending as SC No.3/2021 on the
files of the Additional Sessions Court, Thrissur.
2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that on
12.08.2020 at about 6 a.m, the applicant was
intercepted and caught red handed while he was
transporting 138.350 kg of ganja, a commercial
quantity in a container lorry bearing Reg.No.KL-
42-H-672 and had been in remand since then. The
earlier application was dismissed for the reason
that the embargo under Section 37 of the NDPS Act
Bail Appl..No.993 OF 2021
and the decision of the Apex Court in Union of
India v. Sri Shiv Shanker Kesari [2007(7) SCC 798]
applied to this case and therefore the applicant
is not entitled to bail. Nevertheless the
applicant has been relentless, and has approached
this Court again seeking bail, pleading that he is
innocent and that there are no materials to
indicate that he is involved and therefore there
are reasonable grounds to believe that he is not
guilty of the offence, and that he may get
involved in similar offences.
3. There are decisions to substantiate the
fact that Section 37 of the NDPS Act creates an
embargo in granting bail to the accused. The
latest decision in State of Kerala v. Rajesh
[2020(1) KHC 557] the Kerala High Court had
granted bail to an accused who was involved in
commercial quantities of narcotic drugs. The Apex
Court has criticized the High Court for granting
Bail Appl..No.993 OF 2021
bail ignoring Section 37. Unless the twin
conditions referred to Section 37 are complied
with, bail cannot be granted. There are no
reasonable grounds in this case to believe that
the applicant is not guilty, and the 2nd condition
that he will not get involved in offences of
similar nature if released on bail, can also not
be ensured. I find that the applicant was
apprehended in this case red handed and therefore
there are no reasonable grounds at present to
believe that he is innocent. In Achint Navinbhai
Patel @ Mahesh Shah v. State of Gujarat and Ano
[AIR 2003 SC 2172], the Hon'ble Apex Court has
held that despite the fact that the accused has
been in custody as undertrial for eight years is
not a reasonable ground to grant bail to an
accused in view of the embargo under Section 37 of
the NDPS Act. Therefore the incarceration of the
applicant for a fairly long time also will not
Bail Appl..No.993 OF 2021
permit this Court to grant bail to the accused in
view of the prohibitions under Section 37 of the
NDPS Act.
In the result the application is only to be
dismissed again with a direction to the Additional
Sessions Court, Thrissur where the matter is
pending to expedite the case and take it to lodge
at a conclusion at the earliest.
Application is dismissed as above.
Sd/-
ASHOK MENON
JUDGE
SPK
