Himachal Pradesh High Court
Reserved On: 9.3.2026 vs Of on 19 March, 2026
2026:HHC:7728
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
Cr. MP(M) No. 2873 of 2025
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Reserved on: 9.3.2026
Date of Decision: 19.3.2026.
Sanju .... Petitioner
Versus
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State of HP .... Respondent
Coram rt
Hon'ble Mr Justice Rakesh Kainthla, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 No.
For the Petitioner : Mr Sohail Khan, Advocate,
Legal Aid Counsel.
For the Respondent/State : Mr Jitender Sharma,
Additional Advocate General.
Rakesh Kainthla, Judge
The petitioner has filed the present petition for
seeking regular bail in FIR No. 15 of 2023, dated 3.3.2023,
registered at the Police Station Sainj, District Kullu, H.P., for the
commission of offences punishable under Sections 20 and 25 of
the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS
Act).
1
Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.
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2. It has been asserted that, as per the prosecution, the
police had set up a naka at Dhaman Pul, Sainj. The police
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intercepted the petitioner’s vehicle bearing registration No. HP-
01K-7535 and recovered 2.603 kilograms of charas. The police
arrested the petitioner. These allegations are false. The
prosecution has cited 26 witnesses, out of whom 09 have been
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examined. The petitioner is a taxi driver and the family’s sole
earner. The petitioner has been behind bars since 3.3.2023, and
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his right to a speedy trial is being violated. Therefore, it was
prayed that the present petition be allowed and the petitioner be
released on bail.
3. The petition is opposed by filing a status report
asserting that the police had set up a Naka near Dhaman bridge
on 2.3.2023 at 9.45 PM. They stopped the vehicle bearing
registration No. HP-01K-7535 at 10.15 PM. The driver identified
himself as Sanju (the present petitioner). He tried to move a bag
with his feet. The police became suspicious and searched the
vehicle in the presence of two independent witnesses. The police
recovered 2.603 kilograms of charas during the search. As per the
report of analysis, the exhibit was found to be charas, having
30.14% w/w resin in it. The statements of 09 out of 26 witnesses
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have been recorded. The matter is listed for prosecution evidence
on 20.4.2026. Hence, the status report.
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4. I have heard Mr Sohail Khan, Advocate, learned Legal
Aid Counsel, for the petitioner and Mr Jitender Sharma, learned
Additional Advocate General, for the respondent/State.
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5. Mr Sohail Khan, Advocate, learned Legal Aid Counsel
for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner is innocent and
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that he was falsely implicated. The prosecution has failed to
complete evidence despite the lapse of three years, which
violates the petitioner’s right to a speedy trial. Therefore, he
prayed that the present petition be allowed and the petitioner be
released on bail. He relied upon the judgment of Rabi Prakash Vs.
State of Odisha 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 533 in support of his
submission.
6. Mr Jitender Sharma, learned Additional Advocate
General for the respondent/State, submitted that the prosecution
has examined nine witnesses and the matter is listed for
recording the statements of witnesses on 20.4.2026. There is no
delay in the progress of the trial. Hence, he prayed that the
present petition be dismissed.
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7. I have given considerable thought to the submissions
made at the bar and have gone through the records carefully.
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8. The parameters for granting bail were considered by
the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Pinki v. State of U.P., (2025) 7 SCC
314: 2025 SCC OnLine SC 781, wherein it was observed at page 380:
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(i) Broad principles for the grant of bail
56. InGudikantiNarasimhulu v. High Court of A.P., (1978) 1
SCC 240: 1978 SCC (Cri) 115, Krishna Iyer, J., while
elaborating on the content of Article 21 of the Constitution
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of India in the context of personal liberty of a person
under trial, has laid down the key factors that should beconsidered while granting bail, which are extracted as
under: (SCC p. 244, paras 7-9)
“7. It is thus obvious that the nature of the charge is the
vital factor, and the nature of the evidence is alsopertinent. The punishment to which the party may be
liable, if convicted or a conviction is confirmed, also
bears upon the issue.
8. Another relevant factor is whether the course of justice
would be thwarted by him who seeks the benignant
jurisdiction of the Court to be freed for the time being.
[Patrick Devlin, “The Criminal Prosecution in England”
(Oxford University Press, London 1960) p. 75 —
Modern Law Review, Vol. 81, Jan. 1968, p. 54.]
9. Thus, the legal principles and practice validate the Court
considering the likelihood of the applicant interfering with
witnesses for the prosecution or otherwise polluting the
process of justice. It is not only traditional but rational, in
this context, to enquire into the antecedents of a man who
is applying for bail to find whether he has a bad record,
particularly a record which suggests that he is likely to
commit serious offences while on bail. In regard to
habituals, it is part of criminological history that a
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thoughtless bail order has enabled the bailee to exploit the
opportunity to inflict further crimes on the members of
society. Bail discretion, on the basis of evidence about the
criminal record of a defendant, is therefore not an exercise
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in irrelevance.” (emphasis supplied)
57. In Prahlad Singh Bhati v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2001) 4
SCC 280: 2001 SCC (Cri) 674, this Court highlighted various
aspects that the courts should keep in mind while dealing
with an application seeking bail. The same may be
extracted as follows: (SCC pp. 284-85, para 8)
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“8. The jurisdiction to grant bail has to be exercised on the
basis of well-settled principles, having regard to the
circumstances of each case and not in an arbitrary manner.
While granting the bail, the court has to keep in mind the
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nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support
thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction
will entail, the character, behaviour, means and standing
of the accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the
accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of
the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the
witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the
public or State and similar other considerations. It has also
to be kept in mind that for the purposes of granting the bail
the legislature has used the words “reasonable grounds for
believing” instead of “the evidence” which means the
court dealing with the grant of bail can only satisfy it (sic
itself) as to whether there is a genuine case against the
accused and that the prosecution will be able to produce
prima facie evidence in support of the charge.” (emphasis
supplied)
58. This Court in Ram Govind Upadhyay v. Sudarshan Singh,
(2002) 3 SCC 598: 2002 SCC (Cri) 688, speaking through
Banerjee, J., emphasised that a court exercising discretion
in matters of bail has to undertake the same judiciously. In
highlighting that bail should not be granted as a matter of
course, bereft of cogent reasoning, this Court observed as
follows: (SCC p. 602, para 3)
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“3. Grant of bail, though being a discretionary order, but,
however, calls for the exercise of such a discretion in a
judicious manner and not as a matter of course. An order
for bail bereft of any cogent reason cannot be sustained.
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Needless to record, however, that the grant of bail is
dependent upon the contextual facts of the matter being
dealt with by the court and facts do always vary from case
to case. While the placement of the accused in society,
though it may be considered by itself, cannot be a guiding
factor in the matter of grant of bail, the same should
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always be coupled with other circumstances warranting
the grant of bail. The nature of the offence is one of the
basic considerations for the grant of bail — the more
heinous is the crime, the greater is the chance of rejection
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of the bail, though, however, dependent on the factual
matrix of the matter.” (emphasis supplied)
59. In Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Rajesh Ranjan, (2004) 7 SCC
528: 2004 SCC (Cri) 1977, this Court held that although it is
established that a court considering a bail application
cannot undertake a detailed examination of evidence and
an elaborate discussion on the merits of the case, yet the
court is required to indicate the prima facie reasons
justifying the grant of bail.
60. In Prasanta Kumar Sarkar v. Ashis Chatterjee, (2010) 14
SCC 496: (2011) 3 SCC (Cri) 765, this Court observed that
where a High Court has granted bail mechanically, the said
order would suffer from the vice of non-application of
mind, rendering it illegal. This Court held as under with
regard to the circumstances under which an order
granting bail may be set aside. In doing so, the factors
which ought to have guided the Court’s decision to grant
bail have also been detailed as under: (SCC p. 499, para 9)
“9. … It is trite that this Court does not, normally, interfere
with an order passed by the High Court granting or
rejecting bail to the accused. However, it is equally
incumbent upon the High Court to exercise its discretion
judiciously, cautiously and strictly in compliance with the
basic principles laid down in a plethora of decisions of this
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Court on the point. It is well settled that, among other
circumstances, the factors to be borne in mind while
considering an application for bail are:
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(i) whether there is any prima facie or reasonable
ground to believe that the accused had committed the
offence;
(ii) nature and gravity of the accusation;
(iii) severity of the punishment in the event of
conviction;
(iv) danger of the accused absconding or fleeing, if
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released on bail;
(v) character, behaviour, means, position and standing
of the accused;
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(vi) likelihood of the offence being repeated;
(vii) reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being
influenced; and
(viii) danger, of course, of justice being thwarted by
grant of bail.” (emphasis supplied)
xxxxxxx
62. One of the judgments of this Court on the aspect of
application of mind and requirement of judicious exercise
of discretion in arriving at an order granting bail to theaccused is Brijmani Devi v. Pappu Kumar, (2022) 4 SCC 497 :
(2022) 2 SCC (Cri) 170, wherein a three-Judge Bench of this
Court, while setting aside an unreasoned and casual order
(Pappu Kumar v. State of Bihar, 2021 SCC OnLine Pat 2856and Pappu Singh v. State of Bihar, 2021 SCC OnLine Pat
2857) of the High Court granting bail to the accused,
observed as follows: (Brijmani Devi v. Pappu Kumar, (2022)
4 SCC 497 : (2022) 2 SCC (Cri) 170]), SCC p. 511, para 35)
“35. While we are conscious of the fact that liberty of an
individual is an invaluable right, at the same time while
considering an application for bail courts cannot lose sight
of the serious nature of the accusations against an accused
and the facts that have a bearing in the case, particularly,
when the accusations may not be false, frivolous or
vexatious in nature but are supported by adequate material
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facie conclusion. While considering an application for the
grant of bail, a prima facie conclusion must be supported
by reasons and must be arrived at after having regard to
the vital facts of the case brought on record. Due.
consideration must be given to facts suggestive of the
nature of crime, the criminal antecedents of the accused, if
any, and the nature of punishment that would follow a
conviction vis-Ã -vis the offence(s) alleged against an
accused.” (emphasis supplied)
9. Hon’ble Supreme Court held in State of Rajasthan v.
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Balchand, (1977) 4 SCC 308: 1977 SCC (Cri) 594: 1977 SCC OnLine SC
261 that the normal rule is bail and not jail, except where the
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gravity of the crime or the heinousness of the offence suggests
otherwise. It was observed at page 308:
2. The basic rule may perhaps be tersely put as bail, not
jail, except where there are circumstances suggestive of
fleeing from justice or thwarting the course of justice or
creating other troubles in the shape of repeating offencesor intimidating witnesses and the like, by the petitioner
who seeks enlargement on bail from the Court. We do notintend to be exhaustive but only illustrative.
3. It is true that the gravity of the offence involved is likely
to induce the petitioner to avoid the course of justice and
must weigh with us when considering the question of jail.
So also, the heinousness of the crime….”
10. The present petition has to be decided as per the
parameters laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
11. It is undisputed that the petitioner had earlier filed a
bail petition, which was registered as Cr.MP(M) No. 284 of 2025
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and was dismissed on 7.4.2025. It was held in State of
Maharashtra. Captain Buddhikota Subha Rao (1989) Suppl. 2 SCC
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605, that once a bail application has been dismissed, a
subsequent bail application can only be considered if there is a
change of circumstances. It was observed:
“Once that application was rejected, there was no question
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of granting a similar prayer. That is virtually overruling the
earlier decision without there being a change in the fact
situation. And when we speak of change, we mean a
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substantial one, which has a direct impact on the earlier
decision and not merely cosmetic changes, which are of
little or no consequence. ‘Between the two orders, there wasa gap of only two days, and it is nobody’s case that during
these two days, drastic changes had taken place,
necessitating the release of the respondent on bail. Judicial
discipline, propriety and comity demanded that theimpugned order should not have been passed, reversing all
earlier orders, including the one rendered by Puranik, J.,
only a couple of days before, in the absence of anysubstantial change in the fact situation. In such cases, it is
necessary to act with restraint and circumspection so thatthe process of the Court is not abused by a litigant and an
impression does not gain ground that the litigant has either
successfully avoided one judge or selected another to securean order which had hitherto eluded him.
12. Similarly, it was held in Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v.
Rajesh Ranjan @ Pappu Yadav (2004) 7 SCC 528 that where an
earlier bail application has been rejected, the Court has to
consider the rejection of the earlier bail application and then
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consider why the subsequent bail application should be allowed.
It was held:
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“11. In regard to cases where earlier bail applications have
been rejected, there is a further onus on the court to
consider the subsequent application for grant of bail bynoticing the grounds on which earlier bail applications
have been rejected and after such consideration, if the
court is of the opinion that bail has to be granted then theof
said court will have to give specific reasons why in spite
of such earlier rejection the subsequent bail application
should be granted.”
13. A similar view was taken in State of T.N. v. S.A. Raja,
rt
(2005) 8 SCC 380, wherein it was observed:
9. When a learned Single Judge of the same court had
denied bail to the respondent for certain reasons, and thatorder was unsuccessfully challenged before the appellate
forum, without there being any major change of
circumstances, another fresh application should not havebeen dealt with within a short span of time unless there
were valid grounds giving rise to a tenable case for bail. Ofcourse, the principles of res judicata are not applicable to
bail applications, but the repeated filing of bail
applications without there being any change ofcircumstances would lead to bad precedents.”
14. This position was reiterated in Prasad Shrikant Purohit
v. State of Maharashtra (2018) 11 SCC 458, wherein it was
observed:
“30. Before concluding, we must note that though an
accused has a right to make successive applications for the
grant of bail, the court entertaining such subsequent bail
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grounds on which the earlier bail applications were
rejected. In such cases, the court also has a duty to record
the fresh grounds, which persuade it to take a view
different from the one taken in the earlier applications.”
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15. It was held in Ajay Rajaram Hinge v. State of
Maharashtra, 2023 SCC OnLine Bom 1551, that a successive bail
application can be filed if there is a material change in the
of
circumstances, which means a change in the facts or the law. It
was observed:
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“7. It needs to be noted that the right to file successive bail
applications accrues to the applicant only on the existenceof a material change in circumstances. The sine qua non
for filing subsequent bail applications is a material change
in circumstances. A material change in circumstances
settled by law is a change in the fact situation or law thatrequires the earlier view to be interfered with or where the
earlier finding has become obsolete. However, a change in
circumstance has no bearing on the salutary principle ofjudicial propriety that successive bail application needs to
be decided by the same Judge on the merits, if available atthe place of sitting. There needs to be clarity between the
power of a judge to consider the application and a person’s
right based on a material change in circumstances. Amaterial change in circumstance creates in a person
accused of an offence the right to file a fresh bail
application. But the power to decide such a subsequent
application operates in a completely different sphere,
unconnected with the facts of a case. Such power is based
on the well-settled and judicially recognized principle that
if successive bail applications on the same subject are
permitted to be disposed of by different Judges, there
would be conflicting orders, and the litigant would be
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of the other side being put in issue and there would be
wastage of Court’s time and that judicial discipline
requires that such matter must be placed before the same
Judge, if he is available, for orders. The satisfaction of.
material change in circumstances needs to be adjudicated
by the same Judge who had earlier decided the application.
Therefore, the same Judge needs to adjudicate whether
there is a change in circumstance as claimed by the
applicant, which entitles him to file a subsequent bail
application.”
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16. Therefore, the present bail petition can only be
considered on the basis of the change in the circumstances, and
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it is not permissible to review the order passed by the Court.
17. It was submitted that there is a delay in the progress
of the trial, and the petitioner’s right to a speedy trial is being
violated. This submission cannot be accepted. A perusal of the
earlier order shows that the prosecution had examined six
witnesses, and now the statements of nine witnesses have been
recorded. The matter is listed for recording the statement of
prosecution witnesses on 20.4.2026; therefore, there is no delay
in the progress of the trial. The petitioner has also not filed the
certified copies of the order sheets to show the cause of the delay.
Hence, the plea that the petitioner is entitled to bail because of
the delay cannot be accepted.
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18. The petitioner was found in possession of 2.603
kilograms of cannabis, which is a huge quantity. It was laid down
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by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union of India vs. Vijin K.
Varghese 2025:INSC:1316 that bail cannot be granted on the
ground of prolonged incarceration without satisfying the twin
conditions laid down under Section 37 of the NDPS Act. It was
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observed: –
“17. The High Court then, on the strength of those
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premises, recorded a finding that there exist reasonable
grounds to believe that the applicant is not guilty of thealleged offence, treating prolonged incarceration and
likely delay as the justification for bail. Such a finding is
not a casual observation. It is the statutory thresholdunder Section 37(1)(b)(ii), which would disentitle the
discretionary relief and grant of bail must necessarily rest
on careful appraisal of the material available. A conclusion
of this nature, if returned without addressing theprosecution’s assertions of operative control and
antecedent involvement, risks trenching upon the
appreciation of evidence which would be in the domain of
the trial court at first instance.
18. This Court ordinarily shows deference to the discretion
exercised by the High Court while considering the grant of
bail. However, offences involving a commercial quantity
of narcotic drugs stand on a distinct statutory footing.
Section 37 enacts a specific embargo on the grant of bail
and obligates the Court to record satisfaction on the twin
requirements noticed above, in addition to the ordinary
tests under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
19. In the present case, the High Court has not undertaken
the analysis of those twin requirements with reference to
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22.01.2025 and 12.03.2025 do not advert to the allegation
regarding the respondent’s prior involvement in a seizure
of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances only days
prior to the seizure forming the subject matter of the.
present complaint, nor do they engage with the
prosecution’s assertion as to the respondent’s role in
arranging, importing, clearing and supervising theconsignments. The omission to consider these factors
bears directly upon the statutory satisfaction required by
Section 37(1)(b).”
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19. A similar view was taken in Union of India v Namdeo
Ashruba Nakade SLP (Crl.) 9792/2025, decided on 07.11.2025,
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wherein it was observed:
“11. In the present case, this Court finds that though the
Respondent-accused was in custody for one year, four
months, and charges have not been framed, yet the
allegations are serious inasmuch as not only is therecovery much in excess of the commercial quantity, but
the Respondent-accused allegedly got the cavities
ingeniously fabricated below the trailer to conceal thecontraband.
12. Prima facie, this Court is of the opinion that the
Respondent-accused is involved in drug trafficking in an
organised manner. Consequently, no case for dispensingwith the mandatory requirement of Section 37 of the NDPS
Act is made out in the present matter.”
20. Therefore, it is impermissible to grant bail on the
ground of delay alone when the petitioner has not satisfied the
requirement of Section 37 of the NDPS Act.
21. In Ravi Prakash, the prosecution had only examined
one out of nineteen witnesses within four years. In the present
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case, nine witnesses have been examined, and the cited judgment
will not help the petitioner.
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22. No other point was urged.
23. In view of the above, the present petition fails, and it
is dismissed.
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24. The observation made herein before shall remain
confined to the disposal of the petition and will have no bearing,
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whatsoever, on the merits of the case.
(Rakesh Kainthla)
Judge
19th March, 2026
(Chander)
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