GHOLA POLICE STATION CASE No. 32 of 2020 · Calcutta High Court

Mr. Subhrojit Chowdhury Mr. Sourav Mondal … … for the petitioner Mr. Saibal Bapuli .. ld. Addl. Public Prosecutor Mr. Bibaswan Bhattacharya … … for the State It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that he is in custody for more than three years. It is further submitted there is slow progress in trial. No witnesses have been examined. Accordingly, he prays for bail. Learned Advocate for the State opposes the prayer for bail and submits date has been fixed for recording evidence on 8th/9th June,

2023. We have considered the materials on record. Petitioner is in custody for more than three years. However, no witnesses have been examined till date. Delay in the matter cannot be attributed to the petitioner. Under such circumstances, we are of the opinion petitioner has been able to make out a case of breach of his fundamental right to speedy trial and he is entitled to bail on this score. Bail prayer on the ground of inordinate delay in trial is not fettered by restrictions under Section 37 of the NDPS Act. Therefore, the accused/petitioner, namely Ajit Mondal @ Vasan, be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.10,000/- 2 (Rupees Ten thousand only), with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Judge, Special Court, under the NDPS Act, Barrackpore, North 24-Parganas subject to condition that the said petitioner shall appear before the trial court on every date of hearing until further orders and shall not intimidate witnesses or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever or commit similar offences in future. In the event he fails to appear before the trial court without any justifiable cause, the trial court shall be at liberty to cancel his bail automatically without reference to this court. The application for bail, thus, stands allowed. (Ajay Kumar Gupta, J.) (Joymalya Bagchi, J.)