CHUKS COLLINS Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An under trial prisoner, holder of Nigerian Passport, has come up before this Court under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), seeking bail, under Section 21 of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), for possessing 90.5 grams of heroin (Diacetylmorphine); and under Section 14 of Foreigners Act, 1946, for staying in India after expiry of Visa.

(2.) Based on a First Information Report (FIR), the police arrested the petitioner, on Mar 10, 2019, in FIR No. 30 of 2019, dated Mar 8, 2019, registered under Sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act, in the file of Police Station Bhoranj, District Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, disclosing cognizable and non-bailable offenses. I have heard counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Nand Lal Thakur, Additional Advocate General for the State of HP. The Police have filed the latest status report.

(3.) The gist of the case, sufficient to decide the present bail petition, discloses the following factual matrix: