Patna High Court
Pramila DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court allowed the anticipatory bail application, granting provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond, sureties and verification of the petitioner’s antecedent.
Summary
Petitioner Pramila Devi applied for anticipatory bail after learning that she might be arrested in a case under Sections 30(a) and 37 of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2022, for alleged possession of 10 litres of liquor recovered from her joint‑family house. She argued that she has a clean antecedent, is a woman, and that the liquor was not found in her conscious possession; the allegation rests solely on a confessional statement made by another accused in police custody, which she contended lacks evidentiary value. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, after considering the submissions, directed that she be released on provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties, subject to the conditions of Section 482(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The order also stipulated that the trial court verify her criminal antecedent and that the bail may be cancelled if any prior case is discovered. Consequently, the anticipatory bail application was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted when the alleged offence is based on alleged possession of liquor in a joint‑family house and the only evidence is a confessional statement of another accused.
- Whether the lack of conscious possession and the petitioner’s clean antecedent justify the grant of anticipatory bail under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2022.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- possession
- excise law
- confessional statement
- joint family property
- bail conditions
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.13784 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-704 Year-2025 Thana- SAHEBGANJ District- Muzaffarpur
======================================================
Pramila Devi Wife of Late Motilal Ram R/o Village - Baidhnathpur, P.S. -
Sahebganj, Dist. - Muzaffarpur.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Arvind Kumar, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Pradeep Narain Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 12-03-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case registered
for the offences punishable under Sections 30(a) and 37 of Bihar
Prohibition and Excise Act, 2022.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and is a woman and
allegation is of recovery of 10 litres of liquor from house of the
petitioner. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested
from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from her
conscious possession and the house in question is a joint family
property, as such, it cannot be alleged with certainty that it was
petitioner who had kept the liquor in the house or the liquor kept
in the house was within her knowledge and after amendment in
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.13784 of 2026(2) dt.12-03-2026
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the Excise Act in the year 2018, the concept of deemed
possession and presumed offender has been done away with and
she came to be implicated based on confessional statement of
apprehended accused in police custody, which does not have
any evidentiary value.
4. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
5. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner, above-named, in the
event of her arrest or surrender before the learned Court below
within a period of six weeks, is directed to be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on her furnishing bail-bond in the
sum of Rs.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the
like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Exclusive Special
Judge Excise Court No.-II, Muzaffarpur in connection with
Sahebganj P.S. Case No.704 of 2025, subject to the conditions
laid down under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.
6. The application stands allowed.
7. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bond of the petitioner shall verify
the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and in the event, if it is
found that petitioner has antecedent of even one case, then it
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.13784 of 2026(2) dt.12-03-2026
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would be presumed that petitioner for the purposes of obtaining
anticipatory bail had concealed her antecedent before this Court,
in that event, the present provisional anticipatory bail order shall
not be confirmed, but if on verification, it is found that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent, in that event, the
provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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