Pradip Kar v. The State Of West Bengal

CIRCUIT BENCH OF CALCUTTA HIGH COURT 13.6.2023 AT JALPAIGURI Court No.01 Item No. 38 ar Rejected CRM (NDPS) 287 of 2023 In Re: An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with Kumargram Police Station Case No. 56 of 2022 dated 30.01.2022 under Sections 20(b)(ii)(c) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

And In Re: Pradip Kar .... Petitioner Mr. Partha Pratim Sarkar Mr. Sandip Guha Roy ... For the Petitioner Ms. Aditi Shankar Chakraborty, Ld. APP Mr. Sourav Ganguly ... For the State Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is in custody from 30th January, 2022, but no charge has been framed till date. Learned counsel for the State in opposing the prayer for bail submits that the charge-sheet has already been filed.

On consideration of the memorandum of charges and seizure list disclosing narcotic substance over commercial quantity, we are not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner.

However, having regard to the fact that the petitioner is in custody for about 1 year 4 months without any charge being framed, we direct the trial court to immediately fix a date for framing the charges and to proceed with the trial in compliance with Section 309 of the Cr.P.C and shall conclude the trial as early as possible without granting any adjournment to either of the parties.

The application for bail is thus rejected. CRM (NDPS) 287 of 2023 is disposed of accordingly.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.) (Soumen Sen, J.)