The main legal point established is that the severity of punishment and seriousness of alleged offences must be balanced with the presumption of innocence and the principle that deprivation of liberty should not be considered a punishment before conviction.

JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioner has filed the instant application under section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for grant of bail in case FIR No. 0161/2022 for offences under section 8(a) and 21 of the NDPS Act registered with Police Station, Poonch.

2. As per the prosecution case, on 26.07.2022, while police officials of Police Station, Poonch, were on patrolling duty at Qazi Mohra, they spotted a person coming from main road towards Sukha Katha. The said person, on spotting the police, tried to run away from the spot but the police party managed to apprehend the said person. During his questioning, the suspect revealed his identity as Mohd. Altaf (petitioner herein). Upon his personal search, about 7/8 grams of heroin like substance was recovered. The accused could not justify the possession of the aforesaid contraband substance. Accordingly, the recovered contraband substance was seized and the FIR came to be registered against the accused/petitioner. During investigation of the case the accused was taken into custody. The sample of the seized contraband was sent to the FSL, Jammu, for seeking expert opinion.

3. It appears that the accused/petitioner had approached the Court of Principal Sessions Judge, Poonch, seeking bail, but the application has been dismissed by the said court vide its order dated 29.08.2022. Being aggrieved of the said order, the petitioner has filed the instant petition before this Court for grant of bail in his favour on the grounds that quantity of contraband that is alleged to have been recovered from the possession of the petitioner falls in the category of intermediate quantity; that the learned trial court while rejecting the bail petition of the petitioner has not properly appreciated the legal position attending the issue of grant of bail, inasmuch as the rule is bail not jail which in other words means that grant of bail is a rule and its refusal an exception and that in case bail is granted in favour of the petitioner, he is ready to abide by all terms and conditions that may be imposed by the Court.

4. The respondent-State has resisted the bail petition by filing objections/status report thereto. In its objections, the respondent has contended that instant bail petition is liable to be dismissed as the petitioner is involved in a heinous offence which is against the society at large as the menace of drug addiction has engulfed the society and is creating havoc to the families and that the same needs to be dealt with strong fist; that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioner would jump over the concession of bail if granted and that this Court while considering the bail application on the touchstone of individual liberty must not lose sight of interest of the society.

5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

6. In the instant case, learned Principal Sessions Judge, has rejected the bail petition of the petitioner. The question that arises for consideration is whether or not successive bail applications will lie before this Court. The law on this issue is very clear that if an earlier application was rejected by an inferior court, the superior court can always entertain the successive bail application. Reliance in this regard is placed on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case titled Gurcharan Singh & Ors. v. State (Delhi Administration), AIR 1978 SC 179, which has been followed by the High Court of Bombay in the case of Devi Das Raghu Nath Naik v. State, (1987 (3) Crimes 363).

7. Thus, the rejection of a bail application by Sessions Court does not operate as a bar for the High Court in entertaining a similar application under section 439 Cr.P.C. on the same facts and for the same offence.

8. Coming to the order of the learned Sessions Judge, Poonch, whereby application of the petitioner for grant of bail has been rejected, the learned Judge while rejecting bail application of the petitioner has observed that the quantity of contraband re