ORDER

This is the first application under Section 439 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Applicant is implicated in connection with Crime No.01/2022 registered at Police Station Manasa, District Neemuch (MP) for offence punishable under Section 8/15 of the NDPS Act. The applicant is in custody since 01.01.2022. 2 . A s per the prosecution, on 31.12.2021 on receipt of a secret information, the Police party reached the informed spot which was from Balaganj towards Jamuniya Ravji Malkheda and stopped an Alto Car bearing registration No.RJ-27-CJ-6515 which was being driven by present applicant Rahul and recovered total 68 kg of contraband Poppy Straw from the same which was being transported by him without a valid license. On the basis of the recovery made for the applicant, he has been implicated and arrested for the present offence.

3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and has falsely been implicated in the case. He has been in custody since 01.01.2022 i.e. for a period of more than two years and as yet not a single witness has been examined before the trial Court. The trial is hence obviously going to take a long time for its conclusion. It is further submitted that though there is an antecedent of applicant under the NDPS Act but the same was also on basis of memorandum under Section 27 of the Evidence Act in which he has already been enlarged on bail by order dated 29.05.2023 by the High Court of Rajasthan at Jodhpur in S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous Bail Application No.5228/2023.

4. In support of his submission, counsel for the applicant has relied upon the decision rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dheeraj Kumar Shukla Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh reported as 2023 SAR Online (SC) 90 wherein also the accused was found in possession of commercial quantity of contraband (92 Kg Ganja) he was granted bail considering the fact that there was no criminal antecedents against the present applicant and he had completed two and a half years of jail incarceration and the trial was still pending.

5. Counsel for the applicant has also drawn attention of this Court to another decision rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Tapas Mondal Vs. State of West Bengal in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.8464/2023 order dated 14.09.2023 wherein also in the case of commercial quantity, the bail application of the accused has been allowed after two yeas of jail incarceration.

6 . Counsel for the applicant has submitted in both the cases the Hon'ble Supreme Court has taken note of the provisions of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, and in the present case the applicant has already completed two years of jail incarceration. It is further submitted that the applicant is lodged in jail since 01.01.2022 and the final conclusion of trial is likely to take sufficient long time as out of 44 witnesses no witness has been examined. Thus, it is submitted that on the ground of parity, the application be allowed and the applicant be released on bail.

7. I have heard the counsel for the parties and have perused the record. 8. The applicant has been in custody since 01.01.2022. The quantity recovered from his possession is 68 kg. of Poppy Straw. Not a single witness has been examined before the trial Court till now though there are total 44 witnesses to be examined on part of the prosecution. The possibility of trial taking time for its conclusion thus cannot be ruled out. In the case in which the applicant was implicated, he has already been enlarged on bail by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur by order dated 29.05.2023. Thus, in my opinion, the applicant deserves to be enlarged on bail.

9. Accordingly, without commenting on the merits of the case, the application filed by the applicant is allowed. The applicant is directed to be released on bail upon furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.2,00,000 (Rupees Two Lakhs) with one solvent surety of the like amount to the sati