Allowed

Munu Sharma v. the State of Ap

Gauhati HC2 Aug 2022BA/61/2022

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Gauhati High Court granted bail to the accused, Shri Binod Sharma, under the NDPS Act. The court relied on the Supreme Court's ruling in Bharat Chaudhary, noting the absence of psychotropic substances in the accused's possession and arrest based solely on co-accused statements.

What did the court decide?

Accused Shri Binod Sharma to be enlarged on bail by executing a bond of Rs. 25,000 with one surety before the learned Special Judge, NDPS Act.

Munu Sharma Vs the State of Ap — Narcotics (NDPS) | Gauhati HC (2022)

¶1

Page No.# 1/4

¶2

GAHC040007412022

¶3

THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) (ITANAGAR BENCH)

¶4

Case No. : BA 61/2022

¶5

1:Munu Sharma W/o Shri Binod Sharma, Village 2 No. Parbotipur, PO Mirbil, PS Laluk, District Lakhimpur, Assam.

¶6

VERSUS

¶7

1:THE STATE OF AP Represented by the Public Prosecutor, Arunachal Pradesh.

¶8

Advocate for the Petitioner : Gautam Phukan

¶9

Advocate for the Respondent : P P of AP

¶10

BEFORE

¶11

HONBLE MR. JUSTICE ROBIN PHUKAN

¶12

ORDER

¶13

02.08.2022

¶14

Heard Mr. G. Phukan, learned counsel for the applicant. Also heard Mr. T. Ete, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State respondent.

¶15

This application, under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,

¶16

Page No.# 2/4

¶17

1973, is preferred by applicant- Smti Munu Sharma, for grant of bail to accused, namely, Shri Binod Sharma , who has been languishing in jail hazot in connection with Banderdewa P.S. Case No. 01/2022, under Sections 21(b)/22(b) of the NDPS Act , since 28.04.2022.

¶18

Be it noted here that the aforesaid Banderdewa P.S. Case No. 01/2022, under Sections 21(b)/22(b) of the NDPS Act, has been registered on the basis of one F.I.R., lodged by Inspector Tadu Hassang on 06.01.2022, to the effect that on receipt of a secret information regarding selling of drugs by some unknown person at Dikrong river bank, near backside of iron factory Banderdewa, at around 1400 hours, he along with Executive Magistrate, Smti Ritu Tawe, and a team of officers, conducted raid in the aforesaid area and during raid, two persons, namely, Nazirul Ali @ Bablu and Pradeep Nath, were apprehended and from their possession, 80 numbers of vials and 106.40 grams of powdered like substance suspected to be of narcotics drugs were recovered.

¶19

Mr. G. Phukan, learned counsel for the applicant, submits that the accused was arrested on 28.04.2022 and since then, he is behind the bar for last 92 days. Mr. Phukan further submits that 3 (three) co-accused, namely, Nazirul Ali @ Bablu, Pradeep Nath and Niranjan Das, have already been enlarged on bail by the learned Court below and that Charge-Sheet has already been submitted here in this case and the accused will participate in the trial and therefore, it is contended to allow the petition.

¶20

On the other hand, Mr. T. Ete, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, submits that the accused has been Charge-Sheeted under Section 21(b) of the NDPS Act and that as per the Charge-Sheet, he is the main peddler of the drugs

¶21

Page No.# 3/4

¶22

and therefore, Mr. Ete opposed the petition.

¶23

Having heard the submissions of learned Advocates of both sides, I have carefully gone through the petition and the documents placed on record and also perused the LCR received from the learned Court below.

¶24

It appears that nothing has been recovered from the possession of the present accused and 9.77 grams of suspected heroin was recovered from the possession of one Nazirul Ali @ Bablu and Pradeep Nath. The present accused was arrested only on the basis of the statement made by the co-accusedNazirul Ali @ Bablu and Pradeep Nath. Except the statement of the co-accused, there is no other materials to show complicity of the present accused with the offence alleged in the F.I.R.

¶25

In the case of Bharat Chaudhary vs Union Of India , reported in 2021 SCC OnLine SC 1235 , Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that “in the absence of any psychotropic substance found in the conscious possession of A-4, we are of the opinion that mere reliance on the statement made by A-1 to A-3 under Section 67 of the NDPS Act is too tenuous a ground to sustain the impugned order dated 15^th July, 2021. This is all the more so when such a reliance runs contrary to the ruling in Tofan Singh case. The impugned order qua A-4 is, accordingly, quashed and set aside and the order dated 2^nd November, 2020 passed by the learned Special Judge, EC & NDPS Cases, is restored. As for Raja Chandrasekharan [A-1], since the charge sheet has already been filed and by now the said accused has remained in custody for over a period of two years, it is deemed appropriate to release him on bail, subject to the satisfaction of the

¶26

Page No.# 4/4

¶27

trial Court.”

¶28

Here in this case, considering the facts and circumstances on the record and also considering the nature of accusation and the punishment prescribed for the same and the period of detention, i.e. 92 days, in jail hazot, and further considering the submissions of learned Advocates of both sides and the ratio laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bharat Chaudhary (supra) , this Court is inclined to allow this petition.

¶29

Accordingly, it is provided that on furnishing a bond of Rs. 25,000/(Rupees twenty five thousand) only with one surety of like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge, NDPS Act, Yupia, the accused, namely, Shri Binod Sharma, be enlarge on bail.

¶30

In terms of above, this bail application stands disposed of.

¶31

JUDGE

¶32

Comparing Assistant

Munu Sharma v. the State of Ap

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Munu Sharma v. the State of Ap

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Cases cited

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Shri Ranjan Kumar Singh Vs Shri Ego Riba

Rinku Moni Gogoi Vs the State of Ap

Nongki Perme Vs the State of Ap

Techi Kak Vs Bijay Biswas @ Dengu and 2 Ors.

Dana Pertin Vs Baity Jamoh and 4 Ors.

Minoti Das Vs the State of Ap