Laily Bibi v. The State Of West Bengal

Court No.

Dl 17 Ssi 13.04.

CALCUTTA HIGH COURT In the Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri CRR 74 of 2022 In the matter of:- Laily Bibi.

Mr. Arjun Chowdhury Ms. Pratusha Dutta Chowdhury ...for the petitioner Mr. Sourav Ganguly ...for the State This is an application challenging the issuance of warrant of arrest against the petitioner in a case where a charge-sheet was submitted under Section 22 of the NDPS Act.

Let a copy of this application be served upon Mr. Sourav Ganguly, learned counsel, who ordinarily appears on behalf of the State. Let him represent the State. His engagement may be regularized by the competent authority of the State in due course. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits as follows. The petitioner is a 58 years old lady and she is suffering from several ailments. She was arraigned as an accused in this case primarily on the ground that she was the owner of the vehicle that was supposed to carry the contraband in question. She was granted bail on 12.04.2018 and

thereafter, she regularly attended Court.

On 09.07.2020, the petitioner failed to take steps before the learned trial Court and due to her absence, a warrant of arrest was issued. This was actually owing to a miscommunication with her learned Advocate. At the present, she wants to join the proceeding at the earliest. Learned counsel for the State submits that the petitioner should surrender before the learned trial Court as soon as possible.

I have heard the submissions of the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the State and have perused the revision petition. It appears that the petitioner had been attending the Court for quite sometime and now she wants to join the proceeding at the earliest.

In view of the above, the warrant of arrest issued against the petitioner shall remain stayed for a period of four weeks from this date. The petitioner is directed to surrender before the learned trial Court within such period. In the event the petitioner surrenders before the learned trial Court within the stipulated time and prays for bail, her application shall be considered in accordance with law.

With these observations, the revisional application is disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copies of this order may be delivered to the learned Advocates for the parties, if

applied for, upon compliance of all formalities. (Jay Sengupta, J.)