Patna High Court
Rina Devi @ Renu DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court held that provisional anticipatory bail should be granted, subject to verification of the petitioner’s antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Rina Devi, sought anticipatory bail after being implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022 for allegedly possessing nine litres of liquor at her joint‑family house. She argued that she has a clean antecedent, that the liquor was not found in her conscious possession, and that the concept of deemed possession was abolished by the 2018 amendment. The State opposed the bail, contending that the allegations were sufficient to warrant arrest. The High Court, after considering the submissions, directed that the petitioner be released on provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties, subject to verification of her criminal antecedent. The order further stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.
- Whether the post‑2018 amendment eliminates the doctrine of deemed possession and presumed offender in such cases.
- Whether the absence of liquor in the petitioner’s conscious possession and the joint‑family nature of the property affect the bail decision.
- Whether reliance on a secret informant, not named in the FIR, undermines the prosecution’s case.
Legislation cited
- B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- deemed possession
- joint family property
- clean antecedent
- provisional bail
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.14390 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-13 Year-2026 Thana- LAXMIPUR District- Jamui
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Rina Devi @ Renu Devi Wife of Umesh Paswan Resident of Village-
Anandpur P.O. Anandpur, P.S.- Laxmipur, District- Jamui (Bihar)
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Ms. Madhuri Kumari, Advocate
Mr. Abhishek Anand, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Narendra Kumar Singh, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 13-03-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case registered
for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of Bihar
Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) 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 9 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
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in the house was within her knowledge and after amendment in
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 at the instance of local person but
then name of the person who disclosed the name of the
petitioner is not disclosed in the FIR, which casts an aspersion
on the case of the prosecution when petitioner has not been
implicated based on secret information.
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 Court of
Exclusive Excise Court-1, Jamui in connection with Laxmipur
P.S. Case No.13 of 2026, 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
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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
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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