MD Babar Khan @ Babar Khan Vs State of West… — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Calcutta HC (2026)

MD Babar Khan @ Babar Khan Vs State of West… — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Release of Md. Babar Khan @ Babar Khan on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each (one local) to the satisfaction of the Learned CJM, Alipore; petitioner to be physically available on every trial date and not to leave the jurisdiction of West Port Police Station; trial court at liberty to impose additional conditions.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, in custody since 27.02.2018 with the trial having reached only 18 of 27 cited witnesses despite an earlier two-year completion window granted on 13.09.2023, should be released on bail under Section 439 CrPC / Section 483 BNSS.

Court's answer

Further detention of the present petitioner is unwarranted.

Ratio / Principle

The prayer for bail of the petitioner is allowed.

Key takeaways

The petitioner is to be released on bail on a bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Learned CJM, Alipore.ratio¶15
On bail, the petitioner must make himself physically available on each and every date fixed by the learned trial court and shall not leave the jurisdiction of West Port Police Station.ratio¶16

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Calcutta High Court (Tirthankar Ghosh, J.), by order dated 09.07.2026 in CRM (M) 2824 of 2025, allowed bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 / Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 to Md. Babar Khan @ Babar Khan, accused in ST No. 02(09) 18 arising out of West Port Police Station Case No. 03/2018 dated 02.01.2018 u/s 302/201/34 of the IPC, holding that further detention was unwarranted: the petitioner, arrested on 27.02.2018, had spent more than eight years four months in custody while the prosecution examined only 18 of 27 cited witnesses, and despite this Court's direction of 13.09.2023 in CRM (DB) 3550 of 2023 granting two years to complete the witnesses (when 17 stood examined), hardly any progress occurred, only one more witness being examined in over two and a half years. Bail was granted on a bond of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Learned CJM, Alipore, conditioned on the petitioner remaining physically available on every date fixed by the trial court and not leaving the jurisdiction of West Port Police Station; the trial court was granted liberty to impose additional conditions regarding appearance and witness tampering.

09.07.2026

Serial no. 16 [G.S.D]

CRM (M) 2824 of 2025

In re : An Application for Bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973/under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 in connection with ST No. 02(09) 18 arising out of West Port Police Station Case No. 03/2018 dated 02.01.2018 u/s 302/201/34 of the IPC.

-And-

In the matter of : Md. Babar Khan @ Babar Khan

Mr. Anand Keshari Ms. Pubali Debnath Ms. Sneha Bhattacharjee Ms. Dhriti Chanda Mr. Arnab Sau

… Petitioner(s) … for the Petitioner(s) … for the State-respondent(s)

Learned advocate for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was arrested on 27^th February, 2018 and more than eight years four months have passed in the meantime but the prosecution till date has been able to examine 18 witnesses out of the 27 witnesses cited.

The records of the case speak that last of the direction of this court was passed on 13.09.2023 in CRM (DB) 3550 of 2023, wherein, two years’ time was granted to the prosecution to complete the witnesses, as, at the relevant point of time only 17 witnesses were examined. However, there has hardly been any progress in the trial for more than two and half years, as, only one more witness has been examined.

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Having considered the totality of the circumstances, I am of the opinion that further detention of the present petitioner is unwarranted.

Hence, the prayer for bail of the petitioner is

Allowed.

Accordingly, the petitioner viz, Md. Babar Khan @ Babar Khan shall be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees Twenty Thousand only), with two sureties of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Learned CJM, Alipore.

If on bail, the petitioner shall also make himself physically available on each and every date so fixed by the learned trial court and shall not leave the jurisdiction of West Port Police Station.

The learned trial court is granted liberty to impose additional condition(s), if any, for ensuring appearance of the present petitioner and/or regarding tampering with the witnesses concerned.

Accordingly, CRM (M) 2824 of 2025 is allowed .

Parties to act on a server copy of this order duly collected from the official website of the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)

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