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TMI Blog2025 (1) TMI 1314X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the area of the Police station Cantt Ferozepur and the police station City Ferozepur. When the police party reached Bagdadi Gate in Ferozepur city while patrolling, the informant stopped my vehicle by signalling and pulled me over to the side and informed me that Kulwinder son of Ruldu, resident of Janta Preet Nagar, Ferozepur City, who used to selling narcotic pills, who is still standing in an empty place adjacent to the Rai Sikh Bhawan built on Kacha Jira Road to sell narcotic pills to customers. If we go to that place now and check it, a large quantity of narcotic pills can be recovered from Kulwinder. This information is solid, reliable and solid. Keeping and selling narcotic pills in his possession by the above Kulwinder fulfils the definition of crime 22 of the NDPS Act. Therefore, a case against Kulwinder under Section 22 of the NDPS Act is written and sent to the police station through Lady Senior Constable Kulbir Kaur No. 50/ FIRO. The case should be registered and the case number should be informed. Special reports should be sent to the service of the Area Magistrate and officers. PCR should be informed. I am the Inspector along with my fellow employees of the Bhairaha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... NDPS Act for which the petitioner stands convicted for one month. She has, accordingly, sought for dismissal of the petition in hand. 5. I have heard counsel for the rival parties and have gone through the available records of the case. 6. The petitioner was arrested on 15.04.2022 whereinafter investigation was carried out and challan stands presented on 10.10.2022. Charges in the trial in question were framed on 23.11.2022. Total 10 prosecution witnesses have been cited, out of which only 03 have been examined till date. The rival contention of learned counsel for the parties; as to whether the petitioner has been falsely implicated into the FIR in question, whether mandatory provisions of Section 42 and Section 50 of the NDPS Act of 1985 have been complied with or not & the weightage/veracity of the evidence brought by the prosecution alongwith challan (final report); are issues of contentious nature which are essentially required to be ratiocinated upon during the course of trial. This Court does not deem it appropriate to delve deep into these rival contentions, at this stage, lest it may prejudice the trial. Nothing tangible has been brought forward to indicate the likeliho ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... right to speedy trial on the ground that he did not ask for or insist upon a speedy trial." 7.3. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in a judgment tiled as Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh vs. State of Maharashtra and another, 2024(3) RCR (Ciminal) 494 has held as under: "18. Criminals are not born out but made. The human potential in everyone is good and so, never write off any criminal as beyond redemption. This humanist fundamental is often missed when dealing with delinquents, juvenile and adult. Indeed, every saint has a past and every sinner a future. When a crime is committed, a variety of factors is responsible for making the offender commit the crime. Those factors may be social and economic, may be, the result of value erosion or parental neglect; may be, because of the stress of circumstances, or the manifestation of temptations in a milieu of affluence contrasted with indigence or other privations. 189. If the State or any prosecuting agency including the court concerned has no wherewithal to provide or protect the fundamental right of an accused to have a speedy trial as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution then the State or any other prosecuting agency should not oppose t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Community' published in 1940). Incarceration has further deleterious effect - where the accused belongs to the weakest economic strata: immediate loss of livelihood, and in several cases, scattering of families as well as loss of family bonds and alienation from society. The courts therefore, have to be sensitive to these aspects (because in the event of an acquittal, the loss to the accused is irreparable), and ensure that trials - especially in cases, where special laws enact stringent provisions, are taken up and concluded speedily." 7.5. The Hon'ble Supreme Court; in a bail plea under NDPS Act pertaining to commercial quantity; in Criminal Appeal No. 245/2020 dated 07.02.2020 titled as "Chitta Biswas Alias Subhas vs. The State of West Bengal" has held as under:- "Leave granted. This appeal arises out of the final Order dated 30.7.2010 passed by the High Court of Calcutta in CRM No. 6787 of 2019. The instant matter arises out of application preferred by the appellant under Section 439 Cr.P.C. seeking bail in connection with Criminal Case No. 146 of 2018 registered with Taherpur Police Station for offence punishable under Section 21-C of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly a vital safeguard to prevent undue and oppressive incarceration; to mitigate anxiety and concern accompanying the accusation as well as to curtail any impairment in the ability of an accused to defend himself, but there is an overarching societal interest paving way for a speedy trial. This right has been repeatedly actuated in the recent past and the ratio decidendi of the above-referred to Supreme Court's judgments have laid down a series of decisions opening up new vistas of fundamental rights. The concept of speedy trial is amalgamated into the Article 21 as an essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, guaranteed and preserved under our Constitution. The right to speedy trial begins with the actual restraint imposed at the time of the arrest of the accused and consequent incarceration which continues at all stages, namely, the stage of investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal and revision so that any possible prejudice that may result due to impermissible and avoidable delay since the time of the commission of the offence till the criminal proceedings consummate into a finality, could be averted. The speedy trial, early hearing and quick disposal are sine qua ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... udicial process, particularly where such delay(s) is neither attributable to the accused nor justified at the end of the prosecution by cogent reasons. An individual cannot be kept behind bars for an inordinate period of time by taking refuge in rigours laid down in Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985. The legislature in its wisdom, in order to ensure speedy and timely disposal of the cases under the Act, has provided for the constitution of special Courts under Section 36-A of the Act. However, this Court cannot turn Nelson's eye to the protracted delays and systematic inefficiency that frustrate this legislative purpose. A Court of law is duty-bound to ensure that it does not become complicit in violation of an individual's fundamental rights, notwithstanding anything contained in a statute. While dealing with bail petition in a case governed by the rigours of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985, the Court must strike a judicious balance between the legislative intent to curb the menace of drugs and the sacrosanct right of the accused to a fair and expeditious trial. Prolonged incarceration, without justifiable cause, risks transforming pre-trial detention into punitive imprisonment, a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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