The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday granted bail to a woman, who was found in possession of 6.12 grams heroin, while stating that no fruitful purpose is going to be served by keeping her behind bars.
She was apprehended from the house of her brother during a search of the house on the basis of prior information. The brother had fled from the house through the back door, whereas she had thrown something towards the bathroom drain but it fell short of it.
On verification through detection kit, the substance thrown by her was found to be heroin weighing 6.12 grams. An FIR was registered against her under Sections 21, 22 and 29 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
The bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur after going through the facts and circumstances observed that the petitioner is behind bars for about four months and the quantity of heroin, alleged to have been recovered from the petitioner, is 6.12 grams which is slightly more than the small quantity of 5 grams prescribed under the law. “So without commenting on the merits of the case, at this stage, I am of the opinion that no fruitful purpose is going to be served by keeping the petitioner behind bars,” Justice Thakur said.
The Court has also taken into consideration the provision of CrPC under Section 437, which provides to treat a person under the age of 16 years or a woman or sick or infirm person in a different manner than others and empowers the Court to release such person on bail in those cases also wherein, in normal circumstances, others may not be released.
Accordingly, the petitioner is ordered to be enlarged on bail on her furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one local surety in the like amount, as undertaken by her, to the satisfaction of the trial Court, within two weeks from today, subject to the following conditions:
(i) That the petitioner shall make herself available during investigation, as well as the trial on each and every date as and when required, as per law,
(ii) That the petitioner shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
Hence, In any manner, She shall not try to overawe or influence or intimidate the prosecution witnesses,
(iii) That the petitioner shall not obstruct the smooth progress of the trial,
(iv) That the petitioner shall not commit the offence similar to the offence of which she is accused or suspected,
(v) That the petitioner shall not misuse her liberty in any manner,
(vi) That the petitioner shall not jump bail,
(vii) That she shall keep on informing about the change in address, landline number and/or mobile number, if any, for her availability to Police and/or during trial.
(viii) The petitioner shall not leave India without leave of the Court.
In other condition on the accused-petitioner as deemed necessary in the facts and circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice.
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