05. 27.01.2025 Court No.29 (Tanmoy) Allowed IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS JURISDICTION CRM (DB) 4108 of 2024 In Re: - An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 / Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, in connection with Chapra Police Station Case No.188/2017 dated 14.07.2017 under Sections 341/326/307/302/34 of the Indian Penal Code. And In the matter of: - Rabin Chandra Biswas @ Ghoten Biswas & Ors. …petitioners. Mr. Debabrata Ray Ms. Karabi Roy Mr. Soumik Mondal …for the petitioners. Ms. Faria Hossain, APP Mr. Ashok Das …for the State. Dictated by Arijit Banerjee, J. 1. We have seen the depositions of the witnesses examined so far. Prima facie the witnesses implicated the petitioners. 2. However, the petitioners are in custody for a very long period of time. The petitioner nos. 1 and 2 are in custody for about seven years and four months. The other petitioners are in custody for about four years and seven months. The prosecution will examine a few more witnesses, as is submitted by learned State Advocate, on instruction. 3. Learned Advocate for the petitioners tells us that the Trial Court is lying vacant since October, 2024. Signed By : TANMOY GHOSH High Court of Calcutta 28 th of January 2025 10:09:04 AM 2 4. Learned State Advocate does not dispute that submission. She however says that the Judge-in-Charge may be directed to expedite the trial and conclude the same. 5. There may be very strong evidence against the petitioners. Nobody stops the prosecution from securing their conviction. However, the length of time for which the petitioners are in custody, as noted above, impels us to allow their prayer for bail solely on the touchstone of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, without touching the merits of the case, as we do not see that there is real possibility of an early conclusion of the trial. 6. Accordingly, we direct that the petitioners, namely, 1. Rabin Chandra Biswas @ Ghoten Biswas, 2. Buddhadeb Biswas @ Budhu Biswas, 3. Chanchal Biswas, 4. Sujan Biswas shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) each, with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nadia at Krishnagar, subject to condition that the petitioners shall appear before the Trial Court on each and every date of substantive hearing subject to the provisions of Section 317 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 / Section 355 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and shall not intimidate the witnesses and/or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever and on further condition that the petitioners, while on bail, shall remain within the territorial jurisdiction of Kotwali Police Station, Krishnagar, Nadia and Signed By : TANMOY GHOSH High Court of Calcutta 28 th of January 2025 10:09:04 AM 3 shall furnish their present address to the Inspector-in- Charge of Kotwali Police Station, Krishnagar as well as to the learned Trial Court and shall also meet the Inspector-in- Charge of the concerned Police Station within whose jurisdiction they shall be presently residing, twice in a week, during office hours, until further orders . 7. In the event the petitioners fail to adhere to any of the conditions stipulated above without any justifiable cause, the Trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel their bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court. 8. The application for bail being CRM (DB) 4108 of 2024 is accordingly disposed of. 9. Criminal Section is directed to make available urgent photostat certified copies of this order to the parties, if applied for, upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Arijit Banerjee, J.) (Apurba Sinha Ray, J.) Signed By : TANMOY GHOSH High Court of Calcutta 28 th of January 2025 10:09:04 AM