Safikul Islam v. State Of West Bengal

Court No.

Item 1 tbsr 09.02.

CRR 1949 of 2021 In the matter of:- Safikul Islam Mr. Debmalya Das Mr. Sreeom Mitra Ms. Piu Roy .....for the petitioner Mr. Ranabir Roy Chowdhury Mr. Sandip Chakraborty .....for the State This is an application seeking an expeditious disposal of a proceeding in which a charge-sheet was submitted under Sections 21(c) and 29 of the NDPS Act. Report filed on behalf of the State indicating the present posting of the police witnesses of this case, as filed in court, is taken on record.

From the report, it appears that out of 9 police witnesses one had passed away and the others are posted at different places not too far away from the venue of the learned trial court.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits as follows. The petitioner is in custody since 09.12.2019, the date on which the FIR was registered. A charge sheet was submitted in February, 2020 and a supplementary charge sheet was submitted in November, 2020. The prosecution proposed to examine 10 witnesses. However, one of them has passed away in the meantime. On 09.08.2021 the charges were

framed. Yet, till date not a single witness could be examined. The proceeding has remained pending for no fault of the present petitioner.

Learned counsel for the State submits that the State would not come in the way if a direction is passed to expedite the trial.

I have heard submissions of the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the State and have perused the revision petition.

It appears that an inordinate delay has been occasioned in concluding the proceeding, especially considering the fact that the petitioner is in custody since 09.12.2019.

In view of the above and in the interest of justice, I request the learned trial court to conclude the proceeding as expeditiously as possible without granting any unnecessary adjournment to any of the parties, preferably within a period of ten months from the next date of hearing.

With these observations, the revisional application is disposed of Urgent photostat certified copy of this order may be supplied to the parties expeditiously, if applied for. (Jay Sengupta, J.)