Himachal Pradesh High Court
Sushila Rana vs State Of Hp on 28 February, 2023
Author: Sushil Kukreja
Bench: Sushil Kukreja
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA .
Cr.MP (M) No.422 of 2023 Reserved on: 27.02.2023 Decided on : 28.02.2023 Sushila Rana ....Petitioner Versus State of HP ....Respondent Coram The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sushil Kukreja, Judge Whether approved for reporting?1 For the petitioner : Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Advocate.
For the respondent : Mr. B.C. Verma, Additional Advocate General.
________________________________________________________ Sushil Kukreja, Judge By way of instant petition, filed under Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the petitioner is seeking bail in case FIR No.282/2022, dated 20.11.2022, registered at Police Station West (Boileauganj), District Shimla, H.P., under Sections 21 & 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as 'NDPS Act').
1 . Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.
::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 22. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that .
on 20.11.2022, a rukka was received at Police Station Boileauganj that on 19.11.2022, while police party was on routine patrolling duty at place Shoghi Barrier, one HRTC bus, came from Solan side, which was signaled to stop. Thereafter, the police party started checking the bags of the occupants of the bus and when they proceeded to check the bag of the person sitting on seat No. 30(W), he got perplexed and could not give any satisfactory answer with regard to the questions asked by the police party. On suspicion, the police party tried to associate independent witnesses amongst the occupants of the bus, but they refused to become witnesses, as such, the police party asked the Driver and the Conductor of the bus to become witnesses in the proceedings and they agreed to the same. On asking, the Driver of the bus, disclosed his name as Anil Kumar and Conductor of the bus disclosed his name as Sandeep Kumar, in whose presence, name of the person was asked and he disclosed his name as Suman Kumar, who ::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 3 was carrying a bag with him. When the bag was opened .
and checked, white coloured plastic packet was recovered. On opening of the said plastic packet, a white coloured substance was found, which on the basis of experience was found to be chitta/heroin. On weighment, the recovered contraband was found to be 127.56 grams.
Thereafter, the police completed all the codal formalities and FIR as detailed hereinabove was registered against accused Suman Kumar and he was arrested. During investigation, accused Suman Kumar disclosed that he works in a Dhaba, being run by one Sushila at Nogli, who is a Nepali resident, where he met one Ashwani Bhardwaj, who used to come there to consume alcohol.
Sushila used to sell chitta/heroin in small packets from her shop and on many occasions, she sent him to supply chitta/heroin to customers and for this work, she used to give him Rs.100/- or 200/-. On one evening, while he was consuming alcohol with Sushila and Ashwani Bhardwaj, they disclosed that they are involved in the business of selling chitta/heroin and it is a profitable ::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 4 business and, as such, he also joined them. On .
05.01.2023, a secret information was received that Ashwani Bhardwaj and Sushila had been seen together at Nogli. Consequently, the police party went for their search and around 5:30 p.m. they were nabbed by the police party and they were arrested on 06.01.2023.
3. Learned r counsel for the petitioner has contended that the petitioner is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. He has further contended that no recovery is effected from the possession of the petitioner and she was arrested only on the basis of statement given by the main accused and, as such, the petitioner, who is in custody since her arrest, is required to be released on bail. He also submitted that as the co-
accused Ashwani Bhardwaj has already been released on bail, therefore, the petitioner is entitled to be enlarged on bail on the basis of parity.
4. Per contra, the learned Additional Advocate General opposed the bail application on the ground that keeping in view the gravity of the offence alleged to have ::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 5 been committed by the petitioner, she is not entitled to .
be enlarged on bail. He further contended that some cases in the past have been registered against the petitioner, including one under the NDPS Act at Police Station Rampur. Hence, it is prayed that the present bail application may be dismissed.
5. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Additional Advocate General and have also gone through the record of the case and I am of the firm opinion that the petitioner has made out a case for grant of bail, as perusal of the record indicates that accused Suman Kumar was arrested for possessing 127.56 grams of chitta/heroin, which is an intermediate quantity, whereas, the present petitioner has been arrested only on the basis of statement given by the main accused before the police and no contraband was recovered from her possession. The petitioner was arrested on 06.01.2023 and since then she is behind the bars. There is no evidence on record to suggest that the petitioner will tamper with the ::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 6 prosecution evidence or will flee from justice, if released .
on bail. The investigation of the case is almost complete and no recovery is to be effected from the petitioner.
Since the trial may take sufficiently long time to conclude, therefore, no fruitful purpose will be served if the petitioner is kept behind the bars for an unlimited period. Moreover, the co-accused Ashwani Bhardwaj has already been released on bail and, as such, on the ground of parity also, the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail. Merely because of the fact that some cases in the past have been registered against the petitioner is no ground to deny bail to the petitioner as those cases will be decided on their own merits.
6. 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 her 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.282/2022, dated 20.11.2022, ::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 7 registered at Police Station West (Boileauganj), District .
Shimla, H.P., under Sections 21 & 29 of NDPS Act, shall be forthwith released on bail, subject to her 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, however, subject to the following conditions:-
(i) that the petitioner will appear before the Court and the Investigating Officer whenever required ;
(ii) that she will not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing any facts to the Court or the police;
(iii) that she will not tamper with the prosecution evidence nor she will try to win over the Prosecution witnesses or terrorise them in any manner;
(iv) that she will not repeat the offence, as is alleged to have been committed by her;
(v) that she will not deliberately and intentionally act in a manner which may tend to delay the investigation or the trial of the case and
(vi) that she will not leave India without prior permission of the Court.
7. 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 is violated by the petitioner.
::: Downloaded on - 28/02/2023 20:33:25 :::CIS 88. 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.
(Sushil Kukreja)
February 28, 2023 Judge
(VH)
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