Wajid Ali @ Tinku v. State of Rajasthan

ITEM NO.32 COURT NO.7 SECTION II-D

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 7049/2025
[Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 04-04-2025 in SBCRMSBA No. 3396/2025 passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jaipur]

WAJID ALI @ TINKU Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF RAJASTHAN Respondent(s)
(IA No. 118177/2025 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)

WITH
SLP(Crl) No. 9728/2025 (II-D)
(IA No. 155344/2025 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)

Date : 09-02-2026 These matters were called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PANKAJ MITHAL
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.V.N. BHATTI

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Namit Saxena, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. Padmesh Mishra, A.A.G. Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

[NyayVidhan note: this order is recorded in the record of proceedings; there is no separate signed order. Paragraphs 1-8 carry the Court's numbers. The list of counsel is given on one line for each side. The running head, page numbers and digital-signature block are left out. The order's own wording is kept as printed.]

[NyayVidhan note on the earlier records of proceedings in this SLP (official copies, www.sci.gov.in): on 19.05.2025 the Court issued notice. On 15.07.2025 it issued notice in SLP (Crl.) No. 9728/2025, which arises from the order dated 06-05-2025 in SBCRMSBA No. 5371/2025 of the same High Court, and tagged it with SLP (Crl.) No. 7049 of 2025. On 31.07.2025 the State was allowed two weeks to file its counter affidavit. On 21.08.2025 the Court recorded: ‘Out of 17 cited witnesses 8 have already been examined.’; the State submitted that ‘the trial is progressing at quite a good pace and is likely to be completed very soon’; the Court expected ‘that the examination of all the witnesses be completed within a period of three months’ and directed the matter to be listed after all the material witnesses had been examined. On 04.12.2025, on mentioning, the matter was listed on 08.12.2025. On 15.12.2025 the Court recorded that ‘still three witnesses remain to be examined’, directed listing in the 2nd week of February, 2026, and ordered: ‘In the meantime, the Trial Court is directed to complete the examination of all the witnesses.’ It allowed the State to ‘bring on record the relevant statement of any of the witnesses which may be material for the decision of the bail application’. These orders are summarised here for context; the order of 09.02.2026 below is the decision.]

[Source: Supreme Court of India, www.sci.gov.in — order dated 9 February 2026.]

O R D E R

1. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the pleadings.

2. The petitioners are charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 pursuant to FIR No. 44 of 2023 registered with Police Station Mandawar, District-Jhalawar, Rajasthan.

3. Most of the material witnesses have been examined.

4. The argument is that the petitioners were arrested on 28.03.2023 and that they have been in jail for more than two years and ten months. The sample was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory(‘FSL’) after 21 days for which there is no appropriate explanation.

5. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we consider it proper to enlarge the petitioners on bail.

6. Accordingly, we direct that the petitioners be released on bail subject to the terms and conditions that may be imposed by the Trial Court commensurating with the charges, if any, framed against them including surrendering of their passport, if any, with the Trial Court itself.

7. The present petitions stand disposed of in the above terms.

8. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.

(SNEHA DAS) SENIOR PERSONAL ASSISTANT
(NIDHI MATHUR) COURT MASTER (NSH)