BHUPINDER SINGH ALIAS BHINDA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Bhupinder Singh petitioner had filed a petition for bail under Sec. 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure asserting that even if for the sake of arguments the recovery of 56 kgs. of poppy husk from him and Harmeet Singh is to be taken as correct then too he could in law be held to be guilty of possession of only 28 Kgs. of poppy husk, which being less than a commercial quantity as envisaged under Sec. 2(xxiiia) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as "the 1985 Act"), he would be entitled to bail. For this submission, he placed reliance on the observation made in the judgment reported as Kala Singh alias Kalu Vs. State of Haryana, 2002(3) RCR(Crl.) 540. When the application came up for hearing before one of us (Hemant Gupta, J.) his Lordship was of the view that when seen in the light of the observations contained in Madan Lal and another Vs. State of H.P., 2003(4) RCR(Crl.) 100 (SC) : 2003(7) Supreme Court Cases 465, the opinion expressed in Kala Singh's case (supra) requires reconsideration and consequently directed that papers be laid before Honourable the Chief Justice for constituting a larger Bench. It is, in these circumstances, that we have been called upon to examine the contention that in cases where recovery of narcotic substance is effected from more than one person, it would be open to them to assert while seeking bail that the quantity recovered be divided equally between them for determining whether the quantity recovered can be termed as small, less than commercial or commercial quantity.

(2.) On 23.4.2004, when the application was listed before us for the first time, the following order was passed:-

(3.) Thereafter on May 14, 2004, a statement was made by Mr. P.S. Khurana, appearing on behalf of the petitioner that he may be permitted to withdraw the application but since the question referred to for answer by the Full Bench was of considerable importance and likely to have a bearing on many cases, this request was declined.