The Apex Court has also upheld orders of High Courts granting bail to accused-petitioners, where alleged contraband was above commercial quantity, looking to the fact that they had suffered imprisonment for a considerable period of time and the trial was likely to take further more time to conclude. In Amit Singh Moni Vs. State of Himachal Pradesh (Criminal Appeal No. 668 of 2020), the recovered contraband material ‘charas’ weighed 3285 gms which was above the demarcated commercial quantity for charas, but Hon’ble the Supreme Court decided that the appellant was entitled to the benefit of bail vide order dated 12.10.2020 as he had completed more than 2 years and 7 months of actual custody and there had been no substantial progress in the trial. In Mahmood Kurdeya Vs. Narcotics Control Bureau (Criminal Appeal No. 1570 of 2021), the Apex Court had observed that they were persuaded to pass an order in favour of the appellant as the charge sheet had been filed on 23.09.2018 in that particular matter and still no charges were framed and the trial was yet to commence, therefore, despite the fact that the embargo contained under Section 37 was attracted in the case, the accused was enlarged on bail vide order dated 07.12.2021.
