Punjab & Haryana High Court directs disciplinary action against Addl Sessions Judge for wrongfully granting bail

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed that disciplinary action be initiated against an Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) who granted bail to a person accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act [Ajay Kumar alias Kala vs. State of Haryana]..Single-judge Justice Manoj Bajaj stated that the order by the ASJ granting bail appeared to be passed on extraneous considerations and after deliberately ignoring evidence. The issue arose when accused Ajay Kumar filed a plea seeking regular bail. Among other grounds, he sought parity with co-accused Pradeep who was granted bail by Additional Sessions Judge, Bhiwani on November 1. It was submitted that since the prosecution had set up a common case against both the accused persons, the petitioner should also be granted bail..On perusal, it came to light that the trial court had granted Pradeep bail on factual grounds, and that the forensic science laboratory (FSL) report relating to the alleged contraband had not been received. The trial court reasoned that Pradeep had clean antecedents and the alleged supplier had not named him. However, the single-Judge was informed that the FSL report was submitted well before the order granting bail. Following this, the Court suo-motu issued show-cause notice to the accused Pardeep for the cancellation of his bail..The counsel appearing for Pradeep, argued that the order granting Pradeep bail was not misused by the petitioner. It was also argued that the contraband was a greenish-brown vegetative material having flowering/fruiting tops and seeds etc., therefore, it would be debatable if it fell within the definition of Ganja.Further, the counsel stated that there was a delay in lodging of the first information report (FIR) and that the accused had been falsely implicated..The counsel appearing for the State, on the other hand, informed Justice Bajaj that the FSL Report was filed before the trial court on June 3 which was well before the order granting bail. It was pointed out that the report stipulated that the recovered material was “ganja”, within the ambit of narcotic substances..The single-judge found no merit in the arguments of the accused persons and opined that the Additional Sessions Judge, Bhiwani, passed the order in an arbitrary manner by twisting facts to extend the benefit of regular bail to Pardeep.“The observation that accused Pardeep was not arrested from the Tempo Traveller gives an impression that he was not present at the spot, whereas as per prosecution, the driver had tried to escape in a violent manner in order to avoid arrest and seizure of contraband,” the Court said..The High Court found it strange that the FSL Report was not referred to at all by the ASJ.“Strangely, the FSL report was filed on 03.06.2021 before the trial court, but it was not referred to at all by the Presiding Officer, who extended the bail with the observation that the report is yet to be filed,” the High Court noted..Thus, the Court was of the opinion that the concession of bail was granted to Pradeep by “deliberately ignoring the material on record, and exercised the discretion in favour of accused by violating the sound judicial principles and this amounts to grave misconduct on his part.”.The bail granted to Pradeep was, thus, cancelled with the Court also directing action against the judge who granted bail.Pertinently, the original petitioner in the case withdrew his prayer for regular bail..Advocate Dushyant Saharan appeared for the petitioner. Deputy Attorney-General for Haryana Bhupender Singh appeared for the State, and the accused Pradeep was represented by advocate RA Sheoran..[Read Judgment]