Accused's incarceration not justified without corroborative evidence; bail granted under Section 439 Cr.P.C.

Order

18/06/2025

1. The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked by way of filing an application under Section 439 Cr.P.C./483 BNSS at the instance of accused-petitioner. The requisite details of the matter are tabulated herein below:

2. It is contended on behalf of the accused-petitioner that no case for the alleged offences is made out against him and his incarceration is not warranted. There are no factors at play in the case at hand that may work against grant of bail to the accused-petitioner and he has been made an accused based on conjectures and surmises.

3. Contrary to the submissions of learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Public Prosecutor opposes the bail application and submits that the present case is not fit for enlargement of accused on bail.

4. I have considered the submissions made by both the parties and have gone through challan papers and other material available on record.

A vehicle was intercepted by the police team on

21.05.2022 in which two persons namely Bhajan Lal and Jugnu were found. They had 407.900 Kg of poppy husk in their possession. During the course of investigation, it is claimed by the prosecution that aforementioned two accused made discloser to the Investigating Officer regarding involvement of the petitioner in capacity of a person who provided the contraband to them. There is force in the submission of learned counsel for the petitioner that except the confession made by aforementioned two accused to a police officer while in police custody, nothing is there to verify, bolster, corroborate or support their allegation and if the confession is discarded in light of Section 25 & 26 of the Indian Evidence Act , there remains nothing to insinuate the petitioner. He is behind the bars since 10.07.2024 and more than one year have elapsed. Learned counsel for the petitioner place reliance on the land mark judgment of privy counsel in case of Pulukari Kotayya Vs. Kind Emperor , AIR 1947, P.C.67 and Rabi Prakash Vs. The State of Odisha , MANU/SCOR/83201/2023 , whereby the question of embargo contained under Section 37 of NDPS Act has been elaborately discussed. There is high probability that the trial may take long time to conclude. In light of these facts and circumstances, it is deemed suitable to grant the benefit of bail to the petitioner in the present matter.