Himachal Pradesh High Court
Manoj Kumar vs State Of H.P on 8 December, 2023
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA Cr. MP(M) No. 3012 of 2023 Reserved on: 5.12.2023 Decided on: 08.12.2023 Manoj Kumar ... Applicant Versus State of H.P. ...Respondent ___________________________________________ Coram Hon'ble Mr. Justice Virender Singh, Judge Whether approved for reporting?
___________________________________________________ For the Applicant : Mr. Lakshay Parihar, Advocate.
For the Respondent : Mr. Tejasvi Sharma, Mr. Mohinder Zharaick and Mr. H.S. Rawat, Addl. A.Gs. with Ms. Leena Guleria, Dy. A.G. Virender Singh, Judge Applicant Manoj Kumar has filed the present application, under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Cr. P.C'.) for releasing him, on bail, during the pendency of the trial, in case FIR No. 197 of 2023, dated 1.6.2023, under 2 Sections 22, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the NDPS') registered with Police Station, Nurpur, District Kangra, H.P.
2. The applicant has pleaded the fact that he is innocent person and has falsely been implicated in the present case.
3. As per the applicant, investigation in the present case is complete and the Police has submitted report under Section 173(2) Cr. P.C., as such, the applicant is no longer required by the Police for interrogation.
4. Apart from this, the applicant, through his counsel, Mr. Lakshay Parihar, Advocate, has given certain undertakings, for which, he is ready to abide by, in case, released on bail.
5. On these submissions, a prayer has been made to allow the bail application.
6. When put to notice, police has filed the status 3 report, disclosing therein, that on 01.06.2023, Drugs Inspector, Civil Hospital, Nurpur, District Kangra, has submitted a complaint to the police, disclosing therein that he had joined as Drugs Inspector, Civil Hospital, Nurpur on 01.04.2023 and earlier, he was posted, as such, in District Chamba. After assuming the charge, on 03.04.2023, a complaint was handed over to him against Drug De-addiction Centre, Sanjivini Foundation, Village Badhui, Jassur, Tehsil Nurpur, District Kangra, H.P. The said complaint was moved by one Rohit. The complaint was registered in CM helpline No. 1100. On this complaint, he has visited the premises of Drug Deaddiction Centre, Sanjivini Foundation, Village Badhui, Jassur, Tehsil Nurpur, District Kangra, H.P. After inspecting the record, it was found that the Sanjivini Foundation was duly registered with Himachal Pradesh State Mental Health Authority, Shimla, vide Registration No. 041, on 25.10.2022 and the said registration is valid up to 24.11.2023. 4 6.1. During the further enquiry, it was found that two Doctors and one staff nurse are registered with the said Drug Centre, but, no one was present there for counselling and treatment of the drug addict patients. They only used to come there on as and when required basis. The details of the said Doctors and staff nurse, are as under: a. Dr. Gurjot Singh, MBBS, DPM, Consultant Psychiatrist (as and when required basis) b. Dr. Karamjeet Toor, MBBS (as and when required basis) c. Smt. Sapna (Staff Nurse), on contract tenure for one year and the tenure has expired on 17.03.2023 and no recruitment was done for the said post. 6.2. As per the complaint, the said medical and paramedical staff was found absent during the inspection and it was found that they all are in papers and none of the above were present there for the treatment. The treatment was being done by the unprofessional and untrained people there and the incident of the beating the patient, as said in the 5 complaint, received by the Drugs Inspector, could not be denied.
6.3. When, according to the complainant, the CCTV footage was checked, it was observed that Dr. Karamjit, MBBS visited the said Drug Centre once or twice in a week and Dr. Gurjot Singh, MBBS, DPM (Psychiatrics), visits only once in a month. During further perusal of footage of CCTV cameras, it was found that the Doctor only signed the files and not even a single patient was checked during their whole visit. They just write the prescription and hand over the file to the untrained person. The person, present there, could also not explain as to how the prescribed medicines were given to the patients. No registered pharmacist was found engaged by the Drug De-addiction Centre on regular basis.
6.4. During further inspection of the premises of Sanjivini Foundation, the Drugs Inspector found the following narcotic drugs, which are also stated to be 6 schedule H1 Drugs and cannot be possessed without a valid purchase invoice:-
a) Lorazepam Batch No. AWY42001.
b) Clonazepam (Petril Beta 10) Batch No.PEDS0049.
c) Tramadol hydrochloride (Vitmap) Batch No. 122A98.
d) Clonazepam (Clopam Plus) Batch No. ST22-2986.
6.5. According to the complainant, the purchase and distribution record was not provided, despite opportunity to produce the same was given. All drugs were taken into possession by filling form No. 15, in the presence of the witnesses. The drugs were put in the bags and wrapped with white adhesive. Thereafter, he had given 20 days to the authorities of Sanjivini Foundation to produce the requisite documents, but, they could not produce the same.
6.6. Consequently, a reminder was issued on 24.04.2023 to the proprietor of Sanjivini Foundation, as well as to Dr. Gurjot Singh and Dr. Karamjeet Toor. Thereafter, he had issued a letter by hand to Manoj Ghai (applicant), who pretended himself to be the 7 Manager, but, despite all this, Sanjivini Foundation could not disclose the source, from where, they had procured the drugs, nor, any justification was given for the possession of the said drugs.
7. On the basis of above facts, FIR in question has been registered. The contraband, so recovered, was handed over to the police, which was checked and taken into possession by putting the same in a sealed parcel, which was sealed with seal 'T'. Other codal formalities were completed. The contraband, so recovered, was sent to SFSL, Junga for chemical analysis and report has been received. The opinion, of the laboratory has been mentioned in the status report, which is reproduced as under:-
Exhibit No. 1 Petril Beta-10 Description:
Light orange colored circular flat tables in non metallic strips of batch No. PEDS0049 in white colored stapled paper marked in the laboratory as A. Colored strips =01 Total tablets=10 (01 X 10) Average weight of tablets =145.0 mg Total weight of tablets-1.450g Manufactured by - microlabs limited 8 mamringnamthang Road. South Sikkim 737132 Manufacture/Expiry date- Jul 2021/Dec 2023. Exhibit No 2 Lorazepam Description:
Pink colored circular flat tablets in non-metallic strips of batch No AWY42001 in same white colored stapled paper envelop marked in the laboratory as A. Total strips = 01 Total tablets = 08(01x08) Average weight of tablets = 128.0mg Total weight of tablets = 1.024g Manufactured by Psychotropic India Ltd. Plot No Industrial Park-2 Phase -1 salimar, Mehdood-2 Haridwar -249403 Uttrakhand Manufacture/Expiry date= Apr 2022/ Mar2024 Exhibit No 03 Clopram-
plus Description:
Yellow colored circular flat tablets in non metallic strips of batch no ST 22-2986 in white colored stapled paper envelope marked in the laboratory as B. Total Strips=08 Total tablets = 08(01x08) 9 Average weight of tablets = 116.0 mg Total weight of tablets = 9.280 mg Manufactured by Salud Care (1) Pvt. Ltd, 435, kishanpur, Roorkee-247661 Manufacture/Expiry date = Dec 2021/Nov 2024 Exhibit No 4 Vitmap Description: Peach colored tablets in non metallic strips of batch No. T22A98 in white coloured tapled paper envelope marked in the laboratory as C Total Strips = 05 Total tablets = 50 (08X10) Average weight of tablets = 766.0 mg Total weight of tablets = 38.300g Total quantity of all narcotics drugs (Exhibit 1+ Exhibit 2+ Exhibit 3+ Exhibit 4) in gm = 1.450+1.024+9.280+38.300-50.054gm Manufactured by Kim Health care, 65, Raipur, Bhagwanpur, Near PHC, Roorkee-247661, Distt Haridwar, Uttrakhand.
Manufacture Expiry date = Oct2022/Sep2024 RESULT OF THE EXAMINATION PETRIL BETA-10 Various scientific tests such as physical identification, chemical, chromatographic and GC-MS analysis were carried out in the laboratory with the exhibit stated as tablets of Petri Beta- 10 in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratoryas A, with representative and homogeneous sample. The 10 above tests performed, indicated the presence of clonazepam in the exhibit stated as Petril Beta-10. The result thus obtained is given below. The exhibit stated as Petril Beta -10 in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratory as A is a sample of CLONAZEPAM Tablets. LORAZEPAM Various scientific tests such as physical identification, chemical, chromatographic & GC-MS analyses were carried out in the laboratory with the exhibit stated as tablets of LORAZEPAM in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratory as A, with representative & Homogeneous sample. The above tests performed, indicated the presence of Lorazepam in the exhibit stated as Lorazepam. The result thus obtained is given below:
The Exhibit stated as Lorazepam in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratory as A is a sample of Lorazepam tablets.
CLORPRAM - PLUS Various scientific tests such as physical identification, chemical, chromatographic & GC-MS analyses were carried out in the laboratory with the exhibit stated as tablets of Clopram-Plus in white coloured paper envelope marked in the lab- 10 oratory as B., with representative & Homogeneous sample. The above tests performed, indicated the presence of Clonazepam in the exhibit stated as Clopram- Plus. The result thus obtained is given below.
The Exhibit stated as Clopram Plus in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratory as B is a sample of Clonazepam tablets.
VITMAP Various scientific tests such as physical identification, chemical, chromatographic & GC-MS analyses were carried out in the laboratory with the exhibit Vitmap 11 (stated as tablets of Tramado) in white coloured paper envelope marked in the laboratory as C., with representative & homogeneous sample. The above tests performed, indicated the presence of Tramadol in the exhibit Vitmap (stated as tablets of Tramadol). The result thus obtained is given below.
The exhibit Vitmap (stated as tablets of Tramadol) in white coloured envelope marked in the laboratory as C is a Sample of Tramadol, tablets.
8. It is the further case of the Police that investigation in the present case is complete, as report, under Section 173(2) Cr. P.C.has been filed before the Court of learned Special Judge, Nurpur, Kangra, H.P., on 28.11.2023.
9. The contraband allegedly recovered, in the present case, does not fall within the definition of commercial quantity. As per notification dated 26.4.2018, Tremadol has been added in the Schedule at serial No.110 X, small quantity of which has been described, as 5 mg, whereas commercial quantity as 250 mg.
10. Since, the contraband recovered, in this case, does not fall within the definition of commercial quantity, as such, rigors of Section 37 of the NDPS are not applicable 12 in the present case.
11. The applicant is in judicial custody and investigation in the present case is complete, as report under Section 173(2) Cr. P.C. has been submitted by the Police. In such situation, no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in judicial custody, that too, for indefinite period. Even otherwise, pre-trial punishment is prohibited under the law.
12. No criminal case has been mentioned in the status report, nor argued by the learned Addl. A.G., appearing for the State.
13. So far as the objections, as raised by learned Addl. A.G. that the applicant is resident of Jallandhar and in case, he is released on bail, he may not be available for trial, is concerned, stringent conditions can be imposed, in case the applicant is ordered to be released on bail.
14. The role allegedly played by the applicant, in the 13 commission of offence, shall be proved during the trial.
15. Considering all these facts, this Court is of the view that the bail application is liable to be allowed and is accordingly allowed.
16. The applicant is ordered to be released on bail in case FIR No.197 of 2023, dated 1.6.2023, registered with Police Station, Nurpur, District Kangra, H.P., under Section 22,61 and 85 of the NDPS Act, on his furnishing personal bail bond, in the sum of ₹50,000/-, with two sureties of like amount, out of which, one should be local, to the satisfaction of learned Special Judge, Nurpur, District Kangra. This order, however, shall be subject to the following conditions:
a) He shall make himself available for the purpose of interrogation, if so required and regularly attend the trial Court on each and every date of hearing and if prevented by any reason to do so, seek exemption from appearance by filing appropriate application;
b) He shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence nor hamper the investigation of the case in any manner whatsoever;
c) He shall not make any inducement, threat or 14 promises to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Court or the Police Officer; and
d) He shall not leave the territory of India without the prior permission of the Court.
17. Any of the observations, made hereinabove, shall not be taken as an expression of opinion, on the merits of the case, as these observations, are confined, only, to the disposal of the present bail application.
18. It is made clear that the respondent-State is at liberty to move an appropriate application, in case, any of the bail conditions, is found to be violated by the applicant.
19. The Registry is directed to forward a soft copy of the bail order to the Superintendent of Sub Jail, Nurpur, District Kangra, through email, with a direction to enter the date of grant of bail in the e- prison software.
20. In case, the applicant is not released within a period of seven days from the date of grant of bail, the Superintendent of Sub Jail, Nurpur is directed to 15 inform this fact to the Secretary, DLSA, Kangra. The Superintendent of Sub Jail, Nurpur, District Kangra, is further directed that if the applicant fails to furnish the bail bonds, as per the order passed by this Court, within a period of one month from today, then, the said fact be submitted to this Court.
(Virender Singh) Judge 8.12.2023 Kalpana Digitally signed by RAJNI Date: 2023.12.08 16:50:48 IST