X X X X X X X v. State Of West Bengal And ANR

28.02.2025 Item no. 40.

Court No.29.

AB (Allowed) CRM (DB) 340 of 2025 In Re: An Application for Bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973/Under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Habra Police Station Case No.99 of 2022 Dated 02.02.2022 under Sections 363/365/376(2)(i)(n) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the POCSO Act And In the matter of : XXXX ......Petitioner.

Mr. Nilanjan Adhikary Ms. Oindrila Sinha, Mr. Nitin Sharma ......for the Petitioner.

Mr. Suman De, Ms. Madhumita Basak ......for the State.

Dictated by Arijit Banerjee, J.

1.

The petitioner complains of inordinate delay in progress of the trial. He says that he is in custody for three years. Only 1 out of 22 charge sheet named witnesses has been examined. He prays for bail on the touchstone of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

2.

The State files a status report. Let the same be kept with the records.

3.

From the report, we find that the prosecution intends to examine 13 more witnesses. Charge was framed in May, 2022. After that, only 1 prosecution witness has been examined. At this pace, it is anybody's guess when the trial will conclude.

4.

Without touching the merits of the case and solely on the ground of delay in progress of trial, coupled with the prolonged detention of the petitioner and noting from

the State's report that the petitioner does not have any criminal antecedent, we are constrained to allow the prayer of the petitioner.

5.

Accordingly, we direct that the petitioner, namely XXXX shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/-, with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Judge, Special Court under the POCSO Act at Barasat, North 24 Parganas, and on further conditions that he shall not enter the jurisdiction of Habra Police Station except for attending the court proceedings and shall provide the address where he shall presently reside to the Officer in Charge of the Habra Police Station and shall meet the Officer in Charge of the concerned police station within whose jurisdiction he shall presently reside once in a week until further orders.

6.

The petitioner shall appear before the trial court on every date of hearing until further orders and shall not intimidate the witnesses and/or tamper with evidence and/or commit any cognizable offence in any manner whatsoever.

7.

In the event the petitioner fails to adhere to any of the conditions stipulated above without justifiable cause, the trial court shall be at liberty to cancel the petitioner's bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

8.

The application for bail is, accordingly, allowed.

9.

All parties shall act in terms of server copy of the order downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Apurba Sinha Ray, J.) (Arijit Banerjee, J.)