The Supreme Court has issued notice today in a plea filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Varanasi, challenging the order of Allahabad High Court which had granted bail to a man from whose possession 1,126.50 kg ganja worth approx Rs 56 lakh was recovered. (DRI Varanasi Vs Ranjeet Kumar Singh)
The bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose heard the petition filed by the DRI, Varanasi, against the order of the High Court. The High Court judge in his order dated 4.11.2020, had said, “Having heard the submissions of the learned counsel of both sides, nature of accusation and the severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evidence, prima facie satisfaction of the Court in support of the charge, reformative theory of punishment, and larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Dataram Singh v. the State of U.P. and another, reported in (2018) 2 SCC 22 and without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, I find it to be a case of bail.”
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The Court had pronounced its decision on the second bail application filed by the accused as the first bail application was already rejected by the high court. In the first bail application, the high court vide its order dated 2.4.2019, had directed that the trial should be completed within a period of six months. Whereas despite the order of the High court the trial was still pending. During the hearing of the second bail application learned counsel for the petitioner raised that point and asked the court to show some leniency as he was languishing in jail since 2018, after being arrested and has no criminal history.