Ronga Prodhan And ANR v. State Of West Bengal

Form J(1) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Criminal Revisional Jurisdiction Appellate Side Present :

The Hon'ble Justice Bibek Chaudhuri C.R.R. 2054 of 2022 Ronga Prodhan & Anr.

Vs.

The State of West Bengal For the petitioners : Mr. Kaustav Bagchi, Adv.

Mr. Debayan Ghosh, Adv.

Ms. Priti Kar, Adv.

For the State : Mr. Mirza Firoj Ahmed Begg, Adv.

Heard on : 14.07.2022 Judgment On : 14.07.2022.

Bibek Chaudhuri, J.

This is an application for expeditious disposal of NDPS Case No.217 of 2019 filed by the petitioner/accused in custody. On perusal of the instant application and the materials on record, this Court is of the view that the instant application can be disposed of with the assistance of the learned Public Prosecutor-in-Charge on behalf of the State. Therefore, Mr. Mirza Firoz Ahmed Begg, learned Advocate is requested to assist this Court on behalf of the State. Appointment of Mr. Mirza Firoz Ahmed Begg be regularized by the learned Legal Remembrancer, Government of West Bengal.

It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that the petitioners were arrested on 24th November, 2019 in a case under Section 21( c)/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Since then they are in custody. On 16th May, 2020 charge-sheet was submitted and the learned Special Judge framed charge against the petitioners on 18th September, 2020 under Section 21( c) of the said Act.

It is the grievance of the petitioners that the learned Trial Judge is fixing the schedule of trial of the case after a gap of about 5/6 months between the two schedules. In this process prosecution gets only two schedules in a year on average to conclude the hearing of the case. There are 9 witnesses in the charge-sheet. Out of them 2 witnesses have already been examined. All the witnesses are police personnel. Therefore, prosecution should not face any difficulty to produce the witnesses. Next date of the case is fixed on 6th September, 2022.

The instant revision is disposed of with a direction upon the Trial Court that if examination of the witnesses is not concluded on 6th September, 2022, the learned Trial Judge shall fix a schedule immediately after Puja Vacation in the month of November, 2022 and take necessary arrangement for appearance of all the witnesses for

examination. It is expected that there should not be any further schedule for trial after the month of November, 2022. With the above direction, the instant criminal revision is disposed of.

The petitioners are at liberty to communicate server copy of the order to the learned Trial Court.

(Bibek Chaudhuri, J.) Mithun De/ A.R. (Ct).

Sl No.239.

M/L.