Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Roopa Singh S/O Shri Butta Sing vs State Of Rajasthan (2023:Rj-Jp:40356) on 18 December, 2023
Author: Praveer Bhatnagar
Bench: Praveer Bhatnagar
[2023:RJ-JP:40356]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous Second Bail Application No.
9131/2023
Roopa Singh S/o Shri Butta Sing, Aged About 45 Years, R/o Palla
Megha, Firozpur Sadar Police Station Firozpur District Firozpur
(Punjab) (At Present Confined In Sub District Jail, Bhawani Mandi
District Jhalawar (Raj.)
----Petitioner
Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through Pp
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Rohit Khandelwal
For Respondent(s) : Mr. M.K. Sheoran, PP
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAVEER BHATNAGAR
Order
18/12/2023
1. The instant second bail application has been filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. on behalf of accused-petitioner Roopa Singh. The petitioner has been arrested in connection with FIR No.22/2020 registered at Police Station Mishroli, District Jhalawar for the offences punishable under Sections 8/15 of the NDPS Act.
2. The first bail application preferred by the accused-petitioner was dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 10.05.2021 with liberty to file fresh after recording statement of investigating officer.
3. Learned counsel for the accused-petitioner submits that a false case has been foisted against the accused-petitioner. He further submits that other co-accused Ratan Singh was enlarged on bail by the coordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated (Downloaded on 19/12/2023 at 11:25:39 PM) [2023:RJ-JP:40356] (2 of 3) [CRLMB-9131/2023] 12.12.2023 and case of accused-petitioner is not different from that of the co-accused Ratan Singh. He further submits that as per prosecution case, contraband opium dodachura weighing 301 Kgs and 840 Grams kept in 15 sacks, was recovered from the truck. As per the FIR, the substance which were kept in those 15 sacks, were got collected on a plastic cloth (Tirpal) and therefore, the same was weighed on electronic weighing machine and samples were drawn from the mixture, thus, the samples were not drawn in conformity with the guidelines/instructions of Standing Order No.1/89 issued by the NCB, New Delhi as per which, the Seizure Officer was required to take separate sample from each sack. He further submits that the procedure of sampling has to be done in accordance with the directions given by Hon'ble the Apex Court in the case of Gaunter Edwin Kircher vs State of Goa, Secretariat Panaji, Goa (AIR 1993 SC 1456) decided on 16.03.1993 in which it was clarified that sample has to be taken from each packet. As separate weight of all the sacks was not known and sample from each sack was not drawn for sampling, it cannot be said with utmost certainty that each sack was containing dodachura and that the quantity of recovered contraband was 301 Kgs. Similarly in the case of Netram Vs. State of Rajasthan, reported in 2014 (1) Cr.L.R. (Raj.) 163 it was also held that samples were to be drawn from each sack and drawing sample by mixing the entire article is not as per law.
4. Accused-petitioner is in custody since 05.06.2020 and nearly three years and nine months have been passed since his date of arrest but still four witnesses out of the total 15 cited witnesses, have been examined at trial. The petitioner has no criminal (Downloaded on 19/12/2023 at 11:25:39 PM) [2023:RJ-JP:40356] (3 of 3) [CRLMB-9131/2023] antecedents. Trial of the case will take long spell of time and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner behind the bars, therefore, benefit of bail may be granted to the accused- petitioner.
5. Learned Public Prosecutor vehemently opposes the bail application on the ground that the recovered contraband comes within the definition of commercial quantity and as per the rider contained in Section 37 of the NDPS Act, the bail should not be granted.
6. Considered the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record. The coordinate Bench of this court vide order dated 12.12.2023 after dealing with all the above cited judgments enlarged the similarly situated co-accused Ratan Singh on bail, therefore, without commenting anything on the merits/ demerits of the case, I deem it just and proper to enlarge the accused-petitioner on bail.
7. Accordingly, this second bail application filed under Section 439 Cr.P.C. is allowed and it is ordered that accused-petitioner Roopa Singh S/o Shri Butta Sing arrested in connection with FIR No.22/2020 registered at Police Station Mishroli, District Jhalawar shall be released on bail provided he furnishes a personal bond in the sum of Rs.1,00,000/- with two sound and solvent sureties of Rs.50,000/- each to the satisfaction of learned trial Judge for his appearance before the court concerned on all the dates of hearing as and when called upon to do so.
(PRAVEER BHATNAGAR),J 44-/DHARMENDRA RAKHECHA (Downloaded on 19/12/2023 at 11:25:39 PM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)