Jitender @ Sonu vs State Of Punjab
2022 Latest Caselaw 17159 P&H

                          In The High Court for the States of Punjab and Haryana
                                          At Chandigarh



                                                              CRM-M-58243-2022 (O&M)
                                                              Date of Decision:- 19.12.2022


                          Jitender @ Sonu                                           ... Petitioner


                                                          Versus


                          State of Punjab                                           ... Respondent



                CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GURVINDER SINGH GILL



                Present:-           Mr. J.K.Singla, Advocate, for the petitioner.

                                    Mr. Siddharth Attri, AAG, Punjab.

                                    *****

                GURVINDER SINGH GILL, J. (Oral)

1. The petitioner seeks grant of regular bail in a case registered vide FIR

No.112 dated 30.04.2019 at Police Station Sardulgar, District Mansa,

under Section 22 of NDPS Act.

2. As per the case of the prosecution on 30.04.2019, the Police received

secret information to the effect that Gurpreet Singh, Gagu Singh and

Ramesh Kumar had stored huge quantity of intoxicating tablets in the

house of Gaggu Singh. The information was further to the effect that

Jatinder and Vinod Kumar used to supply the said tablets to them.

Pursuant to receipt of said information, the raid was conducted at the

house of Gaggu Singh and 22,200 tablets of Alprasafe containing

MOHAN SINGH 2022.12.19 18:47 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document CRM-M-58243-2022 (O&M) -2-

2604.14 gms of 'Alprazolam' were recovered. It is further the case of

prosecution that while Ramesh ran away from the spot, the other

accused including Jatinder, Vinod, Gurpreet and Gaggu Singh were

apprehended at the spot.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that he has falsely

been implicated in the present case and that the falsity of the case

would be evident from the fact that the police has very cleverly

shown that each of the 4 accused was possessing an equal number of

tablets. It has been submitted that co-accused of petitoner have

already been granted bail by this Court and since the petitioner has

been behind bars for a substantial period of about 3 years and 8

months, he deserves to be released on bail.

4. On the other hand, learned State counsel has submitted that since the

petitioner along with 4 accused was found in conscious possession of

'commercial quantity' of contraband, no case for grant of bail is

made out. It has been pointed out that the petitioner happens to be

involved in three other cases i.e. two registered under Indian Penal

Code whereas the third one is registered under the Excise Act. It has

also been informed that the petitioner himself mentioned in his

petiton that he stands involved in another case under the NDPS Act.

It has been further informed that the petitioner, as on date, has been

behind bars since the last about 3 years and 8 months. Learned State

counsel has further informed that, in the present case, 4 PWs out of

cited 13 PWs have been examined while three PWs have been given

up.

MOHAN SINGH
2022.12.19 18:47
I attest to the accuracy and
integrity of this document
                 CRM-M-58243-2022 (O&M)                                                       -3-

5. This Court has considered rival submissions.

6. Since the petitioner seeks grant of bail mainly on account of long

custody, it is apposite to refer to a few judgments of Hon'ble

Supreme Court in this regard wherein Hon'ble Supreme Court has

granted the concession of bail solely on ground of long custody:

Case Date of Title of Case Period which the Number Decision accused had undergone when granted bail by Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Criminal 07.02.2020 Chitta Biswas @ 1 year and 7 months Appeal No. Subhas Vs. 245/2020 the State of West Bengal Criminal 12.10.2020 Amit Singh Moni Vs. 2 years and 7 months Appeal No. State of 668/2020 Himachal Pradesh Special 01.08.2022 Nitish Adhikary @ 1 year and 7 months Leave Bapan Vs. to Appeal the State of West (Crl.) No. Bengal 5769/2022 Special 04.08.2022 Shariful Islam @ Sarif 1 year and 6 months Leave Vs. to Appeal the State of West (Crl.) No. Bengal 4173 of

Criminal 05.08.2022 Gopal Krishna Patra @ 2 years 1 month and 17 Appeal No. Gopalrusma Vs. Union days 1169 of of 2022 India Special 22.08.2022 Mohammad Salman About 2 years Leave Hanif to Appeal Shaikh Vs. the State of (Crl.) No. Gujarat 5530-2022 Criminal 22.11.2022 Karnail Singh Vs. The 1 Year and 8 months Appeal No. State of Odisha 2027-2022 Special 25.11.2022 Karim Adaldar Vs. The 10 months Leave to State of West Bengal Appeal (Crl.) No. 8653-2022

6. Keeping in view the totality of the facts and circumstances of the

case particularly the long custody of the petitioner and co-accused of

MOHAN SINGH 2022.12.19 18:47 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document CRM-M-58243-2022 (O&M) -4-

accused have already been granted bail, the petition merits

acceptance.

7. The petition, as such, is allowed and the petitioner is ordered to be

released on regular bail on his furnishing bail bonds/surety bonds to

the satisfaction of learned trial Court/Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty

Magistrate concerned.

8. It is, however, directed that in case the petitioner is found to be

indulging in similar offence again, the prosecution would be at

liberty to move an application for cancellation of bail before this

Court.

                19.12.2022                                      ( GURVINDER SINGH GILL)
                mohan                                                    JUDGE


                                   Whether speaking /reasoned      Yes / No

                                    Whether Reportable             Yes / No




MOHAN SINGH
2022.12.19 18:47
I attest to the accuracy and
integrity of this document