IMPORTANT POINT
Prolonged detention without trial can violate the right to life under Article 21, allowing for bail despite statutory restrictions under the NDPS Act.

JUDGMENT :

Jasgurpreet Singh Puri, J.

Both petitions are taken up together for final disposal with the consent of learned counsel for the parties since both the petitions arise out of the same FIR and prayer in both the cases is for the grant of regular bail.

2. Both the petitions have been filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the grant of regular bail to the petitioners in FIR No.351 dated 17.05.2022, under Sections 20 C and 29 of NDPS Act, registered at Police Station Hansi City, District Hansi, Haryana.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that both the petitioners are in custody from 17.05.2022 which is almost 2 years and submitted that in the present case charges were framed on 17.01.2023 which is almost 1 year and 4 months ago and till date no prosecution witness has been examined. He further submitted that as per allegation, the police on the basis of secret information pertaining to present two petitioners and two more co-accused had intercepted a car from where allegedly there was a recovery of about 1 quintal of ganja. He submitted that the allegation against the petitioner Vikas was that he was the driver of the car and the other petitioner namely, Naseeb was on the conductor seat of the car and there was one more accused namely, Jasbir who was sitting on the rear seat. He also submitted that the aforesaid co-accused namely, Jasbir has been extended the benefit of regular bail by this Court vide Annexure P-5 on 15.04.2024 primarily on the ground that after the framing of the charges which was more than 1 year ago not even a single prosecution witness has been examined and while referring to the judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil Versus Central Bureau of Investigation and another [2022 (10) SCC 51], Mohd. Muslim @ Hussain Versus State (NCT of Delhi) [2023 AIR (SC) 1648], Dheeraj Kumar Shukla v. The State of Uttar Pradesh (Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.(s) 6690 of 2022) and Rabi Prakash Versus State of Odisha, Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.4169 of 2023, this Court had granted bail to the aforesaid co-accused Jasbir.

4. Learned counsel further submitted that although the petitioner may not be exactly at parity with the aforesaid co-accused Jasbir because of the fact that the aforesaid co-accused Jasbir was sitting on the rear seat, whereas petitioner Vikas was driver and the petitioner Naseeb was on the conductor seat but the reasons on the basis of which the aforesaid co-accused Jasbir was granted bail would apply to the present case as well because now even about 1 year and 4 months have elapsed after the framing of the charges but not even a single prosecution witness has been examined. He further submitted that both the petitioners are not involved in any other case and have got clean antecedents and the police has falsely implicated the petitioners in the present case. He submitted that the bar of Section 37 of the NDPS Act will not apply to the present petitioners in view of the aforesaid judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court and in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution of India because the fault in delay of trial on the face of it is on the prosecution and not upon the petitioners. He also submitted that rather there were some other co-accused who were on the disclosure statement and they have also been extended the benefit of regular bail by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide Annexures P-6 to P-8 and therefore, the petitioners may be considered for the grant of regular bail.

5. On the other hand, Mr. Gaurav Jindal, learned Additional Advocate General, Haryana submitted that it is a case where although both the petitioners are in custody for about 2 years but their role is different from that of the other co-accused who have been granted bail. He submitted that the petitioner Vikas was the driver of the car and the petitioner Naseeb was on the conductor seat of the car and there had been a recovery of about 1 quintal of ganja from the car