Meghalaya High Court: In a bail application filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’) for seeking grant of bail for offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (‘NDPS’), W. Diengdoh, J. granted bail to the accused on grounds that the accused is suffering from human immunodeficiency virus (‘HIV’) and required special consideration.
The Court perused the accused person’s medical reports and said that there was no dispute that the accused is suffering from HIV and was undergoing treatment for the same. The Court said that there was no doubt that the District Prison and Correctional Home authorities were doing their best to ensure that the patient was being looked after in custody, however, it is also equally valid that the person who undergoes such procedure is not only physically but also mentally depressed.
Further, the Court said that in cases under the NDPS Act, the rigours under Section 37 of the NDPS Act are to be complied with and the same were applicable to the present case. The Court opined that the accused person required special consideration to get proper treatment or to recuperate from her suffering in an environment congenial to her. Hence, the Court granted bail to the accused on following conditions, that:
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she shall not abscond or tamper with the evidence or witnesses;
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she shall cooperate with the process of the Court concerned.
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she shall not leave the jurisdiction of the State of Meghalaya without prior permission from the Court concerned;
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she shall furnish a personal bond of ₹ 1,00,000/- only with one surety of like amount to the satisfaction of the Court concerned.
[X v. State of Meghalaya, 2023 SCC OnLine Megh 562, Decided on 29-09-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Advocate K. Ch. Gautam
For the respondent: Senior Government Advocate N.G. Shylla, Additional Senior Government Advocate A.H. Kharwanlang
*Deeksha Dabas, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
Buy Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 HERE
