IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that bail should not be denied indefinitely, emphasizing reasonable conditions to ensure justice and the accused's presence during trial.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The petitioner has filed the present petition to seek regular bail. It has been asserted that the petitioner was arrested vide FIR No. 14 of 2025, dated 14.2.2025, for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 21 and 25 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (ND&PS Act), registered at Police Station Kunihar, District Solan, H.P. No recovery was effected from the petitioner. No notice under Section 50 of the Act was given to him. The petitioner has no concern with the recovered contraband. His custodial interrogation is not required. He would abide by all the terms and conditions which the Court may impose. Hence the petition.

2. The petition is opposed by filing a status report asserting that the police party was on patrolling duty on 13.2.2025. They received a secret information at 12:25 AM that a vehicle bearing registration No. HP-08A-6193 was transporting a huge quantity of charas. The police reduced the information into writing and intercepted the vehicle at 1.00 AM. The driver revealed his name as Kewal Ram. Another person sitting beside the driver revealed his name as Raju. The police searched the vehicle and found 307 grams of charas. The police seized the charas and arrested the occupants of the vehicle. An FIR No. 11/11 was registered against the petitioner at Police Station Parwanoo, and he was acquitted by the Court on 29.5.2015. As per the report of analysis, the exhibit was an extract of cannabis and a sample of charas. The charge sheet is being prepared and filed before the Court.

3. I have heard Mr. Inderjeet Singh Narwal, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Tarun Pathak, learned Deputy Advocate General, for the respondent-State.

4. Mr. Inderjeet Singh Narwal, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner is innocent and was falsely implicated. No recovery is to be effected from him, and the prosecution's case is false. Therefore, he prayed that the present petition be allowed and the petitioner be released on bail.

5. Mr Tarun Pathak, learned Deputy Advocate General for the respondent-State, submitted that the petitioner was found in possession of 307 grams of charas, which is a huge quantity and could not have been meant for self-consumption. The petitioner would indulge in the commission of a similar offence in case of his release on bail. Hence, he prayed that the present petition be dismissed.

6. I have given considerable thought to the submissions made at the bar and have gone through the records carefully.

7. The parameters for granting bail were considered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ramratan v. State of M.P. , 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3068 , wherein it was observed as follows: -

“12. The fundamental purpose of bail is to ensure the accused's presence during the investigation and trial. Any conditions imposed must be reasonable and directly related to this objective. This Court in Parvez Noordin Lokhandwalla v. State of Maharastra (2020) 10 SCC 77 observed that though the competent court is empowered to exercise its discretion to impose “any condition” for the grant of bail under Sections 437(3) and 439(1)(a) CrPC, the discretion of the court has to be guided by the need to facilitate the administration of justice, secure the presence of the accused and ensure that the liberty of the accused is not misused to impede the investigation, overawe the witnesses or obstruct the course of justice. The relevant observations are extracted herein below:

“14. The language of Section 437(3) CrPC which uses the expression “any condition … otherwise in the interest of justice”, has been construed in several decisions of this Court. Though the competent court is empowered to exercise its discretion to impose “any condition” for the grant of bail under Sections 437(3) and 439(1)(a) CrPC, the discretion of the court has to be guided by the need to facilitate the administration of justice, secure the presence of the accused and ensure that the liber