Sohel Sk. @ Sohel Rana Sk. @ Guji v. The State Of West Bengal

21.08.2024 Item no.43.

Court No.28.

S. De (Allowed) CRM (DB) No. 2185 of 2024 In Re: An Application for Bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with Tehatta Police Station Case No. 621 of 2015 dated 01.12.2015 under Sections 302/120(B) of the Indian Penal Code and 25/27 of the Arms Act.

And In the matter of : Sohel Sk. @ Sohel Rana Sk. @ Guji. ......Petitioner.

Mr. Bibasan Bhattacharyya, Mr. Asraf Mondal, ...for the Petitioner.

Mr. Debasish Roy, Ld. P.P., Mr. Arijit Ganguly, Mr. Doushik Kundu, ...for the State.

Dictated by Arijit Banerjee, J.

1. The petitioner is in custody for 9 years and 6 months. This is shocking. Only 7 out of 18 witnesses have been examined. The petitioner renews his prayer for bail which was lastly rejected on May 19, 2023, when a co-ordinate Bench had directed the trial to be concluded within 1 year from the next date fixed for recording evidence.

2. We, however, see that the trial is pending and there is little possibility of the trial concluding at an early date.

3. Whatever be the strength of the prosecution case, an undertrial cannot be kept in incarceration for an Signed By :

SANDIP DE High Court of Calcutta 21 st of August 2024 05:56:50 PM

indefinite period of time without bringing the trial to a conclusion. Article 21 of the Constitution stares at our face. The fundamental right of a citizen to personal liberty and speedy trial is of utmost importance.

4. Solely, on the ground of inordinate delay in the progress of trial, we enlarge the petitioner on bail.

1. Accordingly, we direct that the petitioner, namely Sohel Sk. @ Sohel Rana Sk. @ Guji 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 Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Tehatta, Nadia and on further conditions that he shall not leave the jurisdiction of the concerned police station and shall report to the Officer-in-Charge of the concerned police station once in a fortnight until further orders.

2. 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 in any manner whatsoever.

3. 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.

4. The application for bail is, accordingly, allowed.

5. 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.)