Panthbir Singh @ Panth v. State Of Punjab
In the High Court for the States of Punjab and Haryana at Date of Decision:- 04.05.2026 Panthbir Singh @ Panth ... Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab ... Respondent
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBHAS MEHLA Present:- Mr. S.S. Rana, Advocate and Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Sandeep Kumar, DAG, Punjab.
***** SUBHAS MEHLA , J. (Oral) 1.
By way of the present petition, the petitioner is seeking regular bail in case bearing FIR No.206 dated 09.11.2025, registered under Sections 303(2), 317(2), 111 of BNS read with Section 3 & 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, at Police Station City Batala, District Batala, Punjab. 2.
Succinctly, secret information was received to the effect that Panthbir Singh @ Panth (present petitioner) and Jaskirat Singh alias Jassa were making calls, to gangsters Mannú Agwan and Maninder alias Billa, based abroad, to procure grenades, and were planning to attack the Police Station, police post as well as other government buildings. Petitioner and his co-accused has also arranged a stolen motorcycle and they were roaming in the Batala area and could be apprehended. Hence, present FIR was registered. 3.
Learned counsel prayed for concession of bail to the petitioner on the following grounds:
( 2 ) I.
That the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case, the version of prosecution is exaggerated, and is not supported by any credible evidence.
II.
No offence under Section 111 of BNS is made out as he is not a member of organised gang; he is a young man of 18 years and 05 months.
III.
Petitioner is in custody for the last 05 months and 17 days. IV.
He is having clean and clear antecedents as he is not involved in any other case except the present one.
V.
Trial of the case will take sufficient time to conclude. VI.
Petitioner is ready and willing to join the investigation and co-operate with investigating agency as and when required. 4.
Custody certificate dated 29.04.2026 of the petitioner has been filed by learned State counsel and the same is taken on record. As per custody certificate, the petitioner has been behind bars since 12.11.2025 i.e. for the last 05 Months and 17 days and is not involved in any other case. 5.
Learned State Counsel opposed the present petition on the following grounds:
I. The petitioner is a member of organised gang and in touch with the coaccused, namely, Mannu Agwan and Maninder @ Billa, living abroad. II. Two mobile phones were recovered, however, on a query posed by this Court whether there is any CDR etc. on record with that of gangster, learned State counsel replied in negative.
III. There is no other evidence regarding his complicity in the present matter, and that petitioner is not involved in any other case.
( 3 ) 6.
Heard.
7.
Keeping in view the submissions of learned counsel for the parties, facts and circumstances of the case, this Court finds merits in the present petition on the following grounds:
I.
The petitioner has been behind bars since 12.11.2025 i.e. for the last 05 months and 17 days.
II.
He is not involved in any other case except the present one. III.
Petitioner is a young man of age 18 years and 6 months. IV.
The trial is likely to take considerable time to conclude. V.
No fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody for any further period.
8.
As concession of bail cannot be denied just as a measure of punishment and it is a trite principle of criminal jurisprudence that bail is a rule, jail is an exception. Hence, this Court deems it a fit case to grant the concession of regular bail to the petitioner. 9.
Therefore, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the instant petition is allowed. The petitioner is ordered to be released on regular bail on his furnishing requisite bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court/Duty Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned. ( SUBHAS MEHLA ) 04.05.2026 JUDGE Geeta Whether speaking /reasoned Yes / No Whether Reportable Yes / No