LAW FOR ALL

the entire proceedings are vitiated due to no prior approval being taken from the District Superintendent of Police under Section 20A (1) of the TADA Act before registration of First Information Report. He further submitted that 192 witnesses have been cited out of whom only 25 witnesses have been examined so far and there is no likelihood of the completion of the trial in the near future. He also stated that many of the other accused have either been released on bail or had the benefit of the proceedings against them being quashed. He pleaded for grant of bail in view of his long incarceration for more than 12 years. To buttress his submission the counsel relied upon the judgments of this Court in Izharul Haq Abdul Hamid Shaikh v. State of Gujarat (2009) 5 SCC 283, Ashrafkhan v. State of Gujarat (2012) 11 SCC 606 and Hussein Ghadially v. State of Gujarat (2014) 8 SCC 425.=Though the Appellant is involved in serious offences and has absconded for a period of 10 years before he was arrested in 2004, we see no reason to confine him to jail as he has already suffered more than 12 years in custody and the trial may not be completed in the near future. Taking note of the above, we grant relief of bail to the Appellant subject to the following conditions: