Balaram vs State Of Rajasthan
2025 Latest Caselaw 16517 Raj

Citation : 2025 Latest Caselaw 16517 Raj
Judgement Date : 10 December, 2025

[Cites 4, Cited by 0]

Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur

Balaram vs State Of Rajasthan on 10 December, 2025

[2025:RJ-JD:53046]

      HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
                       JODHPUR
 S.B. Criminal Misc Suspension Of Sentence Application (Appeal)
                                 No. 1531/2025

Balaram S/o Labhuram, Aged About 44 Years, R/o Sankda, Police
Station Sankda, District Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (Lodged In Sub
District Jail Pokaran)
                                                                    ----Petitioner
                                     Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through Pp
                                                                  ----Respondent


For Petitioner(s)            :    Mr. Mayank Rajpurohit
                                  Mr. Ankur Limba
For Respondent(s)            :    Mr. Narendra Gehlot, PP with
                                  Mr. O.P. Choudhary, PP



             HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUNIL BENIWAL

Order

Concluded and Reserved on : 03/12/2025 Pronounced on : 10/12/2025

1. The instant application for suspension of sentence has been

moved on behalf of the appellant-applicant against the judgment

dated 04.08.2025 passed by the learned Special Judge, N.D.P.S.

Act Cases, Poran (Additional District & Sessions Judge, Pokran,

Jaisalmer) (for short, 'the learned trial Court') in Sessions Case

No.40/2018 (117/16), whereby the appellant-applicant was

convicted and sentenced as under :-

       Offence                   Sentence                            Fine
8/15 NDPS Act        10 years R.I.                   Rs.1,00,000/- and in default of
                                                     which to further undergo one
                                                     year's S.I.




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2. It is contended on behalf of the appellant-applicant that the

learned trial Court has not appreciated the correct, legal and

factual aspects of the matter and thus, reached at an erroneous

conclusion of guilt, therefore, the same is required to be

appreciated again by this court being the first appellate Court.

2.1 It is further submitted that the contraband recovered from

the appellant-applicant is of below commercial quantity. It is also

submitted that the provisions of Section 52-A of the NDPS Act

have not been complied with, as the inventory was prepared by

the police after a long delay, whereas, the inventory must be

prepared soon after the recovery of the contraband. So also, the

samples were collected from two packets out of 20 packets. It is

also submitted that there is no criminal antecedents of the

appellant-applicant. However, the learned trial Court, while

convicting and sentencing the appellant-applicant, has not

considered the aforesaid facts.

2.2 Counsel for the appellant-applicant relied upon the judgment

dated 01.03.2024 rendered by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the

case of Mohammed Khalid & Anr. vs. The State of Telangana

in Criminal Appeal No(s) 1610/2023 while asserting that non-

compliance of Section 52-A of the NDPS Act shall be fatal to the

prosecution story.

2.3 The appellant-applicant is behind the bars; hearing of the

appeal is likely to take long time, therefore, the application for

suspension of sentence may be allowed and sentence may be

suspended.

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3. Per contra, learned public prosecutor has vehemently

opposed the prayer made on behalf of the appellant-applicant for

releasing him on bail while suspending his sentence.

4. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the

material available on record.

5. Considering the rival submissions of learned counsel for both

the parties and looking to the totality of facts and circumstances

of the case, more particularly the facts that the contraband

recovered is of below commercial quantity; relevant provisions of

the NDPS Act were not followed; and the hearing of appeal is

likely to take long time and also considering the overall

submissions while refraining from passing any comments on the

niceties of the matter and the defects of the prosecution as the

same may put an adverse effect on hearing of the appeal, this

court is of the opinion that it is a fit case for suspending the

sentence awarded to the appellant-applicant.

6. Accordingly, the application for suspension of sentence filed

under Section 430 BNSS (old Section 389 Cr.P.C.) is allowed and

it is ordered that the sentence passed by learned trial Court in

Sessions Case No.40/2018 (117/16) against the appellant-

applicant- Balaram S/o Shri Laburam, shall remain suspended

till final disposal of the aforesaid appeal and he shall be released

on bail provided he executes a personal bond in the sum of

Rs.50,000/- with two sureties of Rs.25,000/- each to the

satisfaction of the learned trial Judge for his appearance in this

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Court on 08.01.2026 and whenever ordered to do so till the

disposal of the appeal on the conditions indicated below:-

(i). That he will appear before the trial Court in the month of January of every year till the appeal is decided.

(ii). That if the applicant changes the place of residence, he will give in writing his changed addresses to the trial Court as well as to the counsel in the High Court.