Page No.# 1/6 GAHC010142792023 2026:GAU-AS:1781 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : I.A.(Crl.)/594/2023 ANISUR RAHMAN S/O SADEM ALI, VILL.- AMERBHITA, CHOTO BASHJANI, P.S.- DHUBRI, DIST.- DHUBRI, ASSAM. VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR. REP. BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTORS. 2:SI SAFIQUL HUSSAIN S/O MD. NAZMUL HUSSAIN VILL.- SORBHOG P.S.- SORBHOG DIST.- BARPETA ASSAM PIN- 781317 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M AHMED, MD I H LASKAR Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM, Page No.# 2/6 BEFORE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE SHAMIMA JAHAN ORDER 10.02.2026 1. Heard Mr. H.R.A Choudhury, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. M. Ahmed learned counsel for the applicant as well as Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State. 2. This interlocutory application has been filed under Section 389 of the Cr.PC, by which the applicant has prayed for suspension of sentence and subsequent bail to be granted to the applicant during the pendency of the appeal. 3. The applicant was convicted vide judgment dated 25.05.2023 and order dated 29.05.2023, passed by the learned Special Judge (Additional), Dhubri in Special Case No.219/2022. The applicant was convicted under Section 22(c) of NDPS Act, 1985 and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 (ten) years with a fine of Rs.1,00,000.00/- and in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another 1(one) year. 4. The main ground for conviction in the instant case is that the contrabands were seized from the possession of the applicant Page No.# 3/6 and that the applicant had failed to rebut the same during his examination under 313 of the Cr.PC. However, Mr. H.R.A Choudhury, learned senior counsel for the applicant, points out that without going into the merit of the case , he submits that the applicant has been inside the jail for 3 years 11 months 21 days since the day of his arrest and that on 18th of this month, the applicant would be completing 4 (four) years of incarceration, in view of the present conviction. 5. The learned senior counsel for the applicant has placed the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered in NCB Vs. Lakhwinder Singh [Criminal Appeal No.475/2025, arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 5215/2021] on Jan 29th, 2025, in which the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that although there is no dispute about the fact that the appellate court is bound by constraints of Section 37 of the NDPS Act while considering the prayer for bail during the pendency of the appeal. However, it is also held that in the facts of the case, when an accused undergoes a substantial part of the substantive sentence and by considering the pendency of the criminal appeals and by further consideration that the same may not be heard in a near future, the appellate court can exercise the power releasing the accused person on bail pending the appeal. 6. It is also held that if the said relief is denied only on the Page No.# 4/6 grounds of Section 37 of the NDPS Act, it would amount to violation of rights of the accused person under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In the present appeal, it is seen that the applicant has been imposed with a sentence of 10 (ten) years of incarceration under Section 22(c) of the NDPS Act for seizure of 10 bottles of cough syrup/contraband and 200 YABA tablets and that he has undergone almost 4 (four) years of incarceration, this Court may grant him the privilege of bail during the pendency of the appeal according to the learned senior counsel. 7. Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor however submits that in the instant case, the applicant was found in possession of contrabands not in very small quantity but in large quantity amounting to commercial and that it is also found in the instant case that the applicant tried to flee from the clutches of the police authority when he was apprehended by the police and that police had to resort to firing to apprehend him and in such facts, according to the learned Public Prosecutor, no bail should be granted because, he submits that the applicant might again flee from the clutches of the authorities. 8. He relies on a decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered in Omprakash Sahni Vs. Jai Shankar Chaudhary reported in (2023) Livelaw (SC) 389, wherein it was held that the Court should Page No.# 5/6 see the merit of the case and should find out as to whether the convict has a fair chance of acquittal, if the Court decides on granting him bail and that while undertaking the exercise to ascertain whether the convict has fair chance of acquittal, the Court has to look into something palpable i.e. something apparent on the face of the record by which the Court can arrive at a prima-facie satisfaction that conviction is not sustainable. 9. Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor further relies on a judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Shivani Tyagi Vs. State of U.P & Anr., reported in 2024 0 Supreme (SC) 386, delivered on April 5th, 2024, by which the Apex Court had held that the Court should not release the convict on bail in each and every case and if, it does so frequent invocation of the said power would become inevitable. 10. I have heard the counsels and have gone through the records. 11. It is seen that the applicant will be completing his 4 (four) years of incarceration within this month and that he has been imposed with a sentence of 10 (ten) years under Section 22(c) of the NDPS Act and the instant criminal appeal is of the year 2023 and the judgment was passed on 25.05.2023 and till date, the instant appeal has not been listed for hearing. As such, this Court deems it Page No.# 6/6 fit that seeing the length of detention of the applicant in the jail, the sentence imposed upon him vide judgment and order dated 25.05.2023/29.05.2023, the sentence be suspended during the pendency of the appeal and he may be released on bail on furnishing of a bail bond of Rs.30,000/-( Rupees Thirty Thousand) with two local sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge (Additional), Dhubri with the condition - that the applicant will show his presence before the learned Special Judge (Additional), Dhubri on every last working day of every month till the disposal of the appeal without fail. 12. The interlocutory application stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant