Orissa High Court
Bebi Devi And Others vs State Of Odisha .... Opposite Party on 3 October, 2023
Author: V. Narasingh
Bench: V. Narasingh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
BLAPL No. 8584 of 2023
Bebi Devi and others .... Petitioners
Mr. B.K. Ragada, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha .... Opposite Party
Mr. P.K. Maharaj, ASC
CORAM: JUSTICE V. NARASINGH
ORDER
03.10.2023 Order No.
02. 1. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioners and learned counsel for the State.
2. The Petitioners are accused in connection with T.R. Case No.63 of 2023 pending in the Court of learned Sessions Judge-cum- Judge (Special Court), Sambalpur, arising out of Excise Station Sambalpur-I, P.R. Case No.08 of 2023-24 for commission of offence alleged under Sections 20(b)(ii)(C) of the NDPS Act.
3. Being aggrieved by the rejection of their application for bail U/s.439 Cr.P.C. by the learned Sessions Judge-cum-Judge (Special Court), Sambalpur by order dated 27.07.2023 in the aforementioned case, the present BLAPL has been filed.
4. It is submitted by the learned counsel that the Petitioners are in custody since 13.04.2023 and the accusation against them is that they were found in possession of contraband (ganja) to the tune 50 kg 500 grams.
5. It is submitted that since final P.R. has already been submitted on 20.07.2023, Petitioners may be released on bail.
Page 1 of 36. Learned counsel for the State opposes the prayer for bail in view of the bar contained in Section 37 of the NDPS Act and submits that there are no mitigating circumstances.
7. It is the further submission of learned counsel for the State that since the Petitioners do not reside within the territorial jurisdiction of the learned Court in seisin, it would not possible to ensure their presence during currency of trial.
8. Taking into account the nature of accusation and keeping in view that the Petitioner No.1 (Bebi Devi) and Petitioner No.2 (Kanchan Devi) are ladies, this Court directs them to be released on bail on such terms to be fixed by the learned Court in seisin.
9. Before releasing, learned Court in seisin is called upon to verify the criminal antecedent of Petitioner No.1 (Bebi Devi) and Petitioner No.2 (Kanchan Devi) from their parent police station i.e. At/PS-Maithan, Dist-Dhanbad, State-Jharkhand. If it comes to the fore that the Petitioners have any criminal antecedent, this order shall stand recalled.
10. Additionally, it is directed that the Petitioner No.1 (Bebi Devi) and Petitioner No.2 (Kanchan Devi) shall appear before the jurisdictional police station once every week on such date and time to be fixed by the learned Court in seisin till conclusion of trial. While directing for such appearance, the learned Court in seisin shall be alive to the fact that the Petitioners are ladies. Certification of such appearance shall be submitted to the learned Court in seisin.
11. So far as Petitioner Nos.3 (Anil Kumar Singh) and 4 (Pratham Kumar Bharti) is concerned, keeping in view their criminal proclivity, this Court in not inclined to entertain their bail application at this stage.
Page 2 of 312. Leave is granted to Petitioner Nos.3 (Anil Kumar Singh) and 4 (Pratham Kumar Bharti) to renew their prayer before the learned Court in seisin at a later stage.
13. Accordingly, the BLAPL stands disposed of.
14. Urgent certified copy of this order be granted as per rules.
(V. NARASINGH) Judge Santoshi Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SANTOSHI LENKA Designation: Junior Stenographer Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa Date: 04-Oct-2023 18:41:09 Page 3 of 3