JUDGMENT

A. P. Chowdhri, J. - This petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure raises a significant question which frequently arises in the Subordinate Courts. Only a few facts need be stated in order to deal with the question of law. The petitioner was granted bail by the learned Additional Sessions Judge Sonepat, in a case under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 with the direction that he shall furnish a bond in the sum of Rs. 30, 000/- with two sureties in the like amount of Sonepat District. The petitioner belongs to a village in the Slate of Himachal Pradesh. He has no acquaintance in District Sonepat and he, therefore, filed the present petition seeking modification of the order that the learned trial Court does not insist on the sureties being of District Sonepat. The short question is whether it is open to the court to insist on sureties being of a particular district. This very question arose in Moti Ram and others v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1978 Supreme Court 1594. The petitioner in that case was a poor mason from Madhya Pradesh. Pending appeal in the Supreme Court, he was ordered to be released on bail to the sati