HC grants regular bail in narcotics case as trial delayed due to Covid

Read Order: Varinder Singh v. State of Punjab 

LE Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 13, 2021: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted regular bail to an accused in a narcotics case, saying conclusion of the trial will take time due to the Covid-19 situation.

The case pertains to the fourth petition for grant of regular bail filed by an accused arrested in 2019 under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 registered at City Mandi police station in Gobindgarh, Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab.

As per the FIR, a police official while on patrol duty along with his co-officials stopped a car. On enquiry, the driver of the car disclosed his name as Varinder Singh @ Goldy (the petitioner in the present case). A search was conducted and two bags of 25 kgs and 27 kgs, each carrying poppy husk, were found.

The petitioner claimed that while checking the weight of the poppy husk, it included the weight of the plastic bag and therefore, the recovery was marginally higher than the commercial quantity.

The counsel for the petitioner further argued that the petitioner is a first-time offender and is not involved in any other case under the NDPS Act. He was arrested on August 7, 2019 and has been in custody for more than one year and six months. Lastly, it was submitted that the trial has been substantially delayed due to the pandemic situation as out of 22 prosecution witnesses only one PW has been examined so far.

A Bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan said, “Considering the fact that the petitioner is in custody for the last more than 01 year and 06 months; the petitioner is not involved in any other case under the NDPS Act; the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required; the conclusion of the trial will take some time due to COVID-19 situation and considering the rigor of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, I deem it appropriate to grant the concession of regular bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed and the petitioner is directed to be released on bail subject to his furnishing bail/surety bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court/Illaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate.”