An undertrial prisoner has been in jail for nine long years. The trial was indefinitely delayed in such a predicament that he needs compassion, observed Delhi High Court and granted him bail.

Hence, Atul Agarwal, accused in a drug case walked out of Tihar jail. He was booked for a case under the NDPS Act for possessing Narcotic drugs.

The case against him is serious. It is a case involving very disastrous consequences, because drugs are a social menace. The accused needs deterrent punishment. But the court has to consider his state of mind when he is in jail facing a painful situation of a very prolonged trial, the Court observed.

The trial had to be speedy, that has been the  dictum of the Supreme Court. An unending trial is a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to him. It affects human dignity. In such a situation the accused is entitled to bail, the Court observed.