Ram Babu Sahni v. State of U.T Chd

ANOOP CHITKARA, J. FIR No. Dated Police Station Sections 06 13.04.2024 ANTF, UT Chandigarh 20, 29 of NDPS Act

¶1The pettoner incarcerated in the FIR captoned above had come up before this Court under Secton 483 of Bharatya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, [BNSS], seeking regular bail.

¶2As per paragraph 20 of the bail applicaton, the accused has the following criminal antecedents: Sr. No. FIR No. Dated Offense Police Station

¶1494 08.07.2020 20 of NDPS Act Bhagwanpur

¶3The facts and allegatons as per FIR (Annexure P-1) are that on 13.04.2024, based on chance recovery, the Police seized 20.342 Kg of ganja from the possession of co-accused Anil Swain @ Chandan and further recovered 9.5 Kg ganja from the possession of co-accused Rahul. The Investgator claims to have complied with all the statutory requirements of the NDPS Act, 1985, and BNSS, 2023.

¶4The pettoner's counsel prays for bail by imposing any stringent conditons and contends that further pre-trial incarceraton would cause an irreversible injustce to the order/judgment. 1

¶5The State's counsel opposes bail. REASONING:

¶6The quantty allegedly involved in this case is commercial. Given this, the rigors of S. 37 of the NDPS Act apply in the present case. The pettoner must satsfy the twin conditons put in place by the Legislature under Secton 37 of the NDPS Act.

¶7The pettoner's involvement surfaced on the basis of disclosure statement and he was in touch with the main accused through phone and there is money transacton in between them through bank account and he was duly identfied as regular visitor to Rahul. However, vide order dated 13.09.2024, the co-accused Rahul has already been granted bail by this Court in CRM-M-41550-2024. Thus, the pettoner is enttled to bail on parity.

¶8As per paragraph 13 of the bail petton, the pettoner has been in custody since

24.11.2024. As per the custody certficate dated 03.02.2025, the pettoner's total custody in this FIR is 02 months and 08 days. Given the penal provisions invoked viz-a-viz pre-trial custody, coupled with the primafacie analysis of the nature of allegatons, and the other factors peculiar to this case, there would be no justfiability further pre-trial incarceraton at this stage.

¶9Without commentng on the case's merits, in the facts and circumstances peculiar to this case, and for the reasons mentoned above, the pettoner makes a case for bail. This order shall come into force from the tme it is uploaded on this Court's official webpage.

¶10Given above, provided the pettoner is not required in any other case, the pettoner shall be released on bail in the FIR captoned above subject to furnishing bonds to the satsfacton of the concerned Court and due to unavailability before any nearest Ilaqa Magistrate/duty Magistrate. Before acceptng the surety, the concerned Court must be satsfied that if the accused fails to appear, such surety can produce the accused.

¶11While furnishing a personal bond, the pettoner shall menton the following personal identficaton details:

¶1AADHAR number

¶2Passport number (If available) and when the aLestng officer/court considers it appropriate or considers the accused a flight risk.

¶3Mobile number (If available)

¶4E-Mail id (If available) order/judgment. 2

¶12This order is subject to the pettoner's complying with the following terms.

¶13The pettoner shall abide by all statutory bond conditons and appear before the concerned Court(s) on all dates. The pettoner shall not tamper with the evidence, influence, browbeat, pressurize, induce, threaten, or promise, directly or indirectly, any witnesses, Police officials, or any other person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case or dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Police or the Court.

¶14Given the background of allegatons against the pettoner, it becomes paramount to protect the members of society, and incapacitatng the accused would be one of the primary optons untl the filing of the closure report or discharge, or acquiLal. Consequently, it would be appropriate to restrict the possession of firearms. [This restricton is being imposed based on the preponderance of the evidence of probability and not of evidence of certainty, i.e., beyond a reasonable doubt; and as such, it is not to be construed as an intermediate sancton]. Given the nature of the allegatons and the other circumstances peculiar to this case, the pettoner shall surrender all weapons, firearms, and ammuniton, if any, along with the arms license to the concerned authority within fiOeen days of release from prison and inform the Investgator of the compliance. However, subject to the Indian Arms Act, 1959, the pettoner shall be enttled to renew and reclaim them in case of acquiLal in this case, provided otherwise permissible under the concerned rules. Restrictng firearms would instll confidence in the victm(s), their families, and society; it would also restrain the accused from influencing the witnesses and repeatng the offense.

¶15The conditons mentoned above imposed by this court are to endeavor to reform and ensure the accused does not repeat the offense and also to block the menace of drug abuse. In Mohammed Zubair v. State of NCT of Delhi, 2022:INSC:735 [Para 28], Writ Petton (Criminal) No 279 of 2022, Para 29, decided on July 20, 2022, A Three-Judge bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court holds that "The bail conditons imposed by the Court must not only have a nexus to the purpose that they seek to serve but must also be proportonal to the purpose of imposing them. The courts, while imposing bail conditons must balance the liberty of the accused and the necessity of a fair trial. While doing so, conditons that would result in the deprivaton of rights and libertes must be eschewed."

¶16In Md. Tajiur Rahaman v. The State of West Bengal, decided on 08-Nov-2024, SLP

(Crl) 12225-2024, Hon'ble Supreme Court holds in Para 7, "It goes without saying that if the pettoner is found involved in such like offence in future, the concession of bail order/judgment. 3 granted to him today will liable to be withdrawn and the pettoner is bound to face the necessary consequences."

¶17This bail is condi#onal, and the founda#onal condi#on is that if the pe##oner indulges in any non-bailable offense, the State shall file an applica#on for cancella#on of this bail before the Trial Court, which shall be at liberty to cancel this bail.

¶18The concerned trial court is authorized to delete, modify, or relax any of the above conditons and shall be competent to do so in accordance with the law.

¶19Any observaton made hereinabove is neither an expression of opinion on the case's merits nor shall the trial Court advert to these comments.

¶20A certfied copy of this order would not be needed for furnishing bonds, and any Advocate for the Pettoner can download this order along with case status from the official web page of this Court and aLest it to be a true copy. If the aLestng officer wants to verify its authentcity, such an officer can also verify its authentcity and may download and use the downloaded copy for aLestng bonds.

¶21Petition allowed in terms mentoned above. All pending applicatons, if any, stand disposed of. (ANOOP CHITKARA) JUDGE

07.02.2025 Jyot-II Whether reportable: No. order/judgment. 4

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Reserved on: 03.02.2025 Pronounced on: 07.02.2025 Ram Babu Sahni ...Pettoner Versus State of U.T. Chd. …Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANOOP CHITKARA Present: Mr. Samay Singh Sandhawalia, Advocate for the pettoner. Mr. Manish Bansal, P.P., U.T., Chandigarh with Mr. Navjit Singh, Advocate for the respondent-UT Chandigarh. ****