Patna High Court
Arfa DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner subject to conditions and verification of her antecedent.
Summary
Arfa Devi, the petitioner, feared arrest in a case registered under Sections 274 and 275 of the Bihar Narcotic Substances Act read with Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act for the alleged recovery of 14.25 litres of liquor from a motorcycle. She contended that she had no conscious possession of the liquor, was not apprehended at the spot, and was merely the owner of the vehicle which was allegedly misused by a person named Amit who was seized at the scene. The petitioner emphasized her clean antecedent and argued that a prudent person would not use her own vehicle to commit the offence. The State opposed the grant of anticipatory bail. The Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs. 500 with two sureties and directed the trial court to verify her antecedent, with the bail to be confirmed if she is found to have a clean record.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under the circumstances of alleged liquor seizure and ownership of the vehicle.
Legislation cited
- Bihar Narcotic Substances Act — s. 274, 275
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- liquor seizure
- vehicle ownership
- clean antecedent
- Bihar Narcotic Substances Act
- Bihar Excise Act
- Section 482
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.16332 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-178 Year-2025 Thana- MADHWAPUR District- Madhubani
======================================================
Arfa Devi W/o- Sunil Kumar @ Sunil Sinha Village- Rodhi Ward No 7 PS-
Jale District-Darbhanga
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ravi Prakash, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Parmanand Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 17-03-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
learned A.P.P. for the State.
2. The petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case
registered for the offences punishable under Sections 274 and
275 of the BNS read with Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act.
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 14.25 liters of liquor from a
motorcycle.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner was not apprehended from the spot as such nothing
was recovered from her conscious possession. It is also
submitted that it is not the case of the prosecution that they saw
a women fleeing from the place of occurrence and she came to
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be implicated based on the fact that she is owner of the seized
vehicle. It is next submitted that no prudent person would use
her own vehicle for committing an occurrence and thus would
create evidence against herself and hence would get implicated,
it is further submitted that petitioner was completely unaware
that Amit would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged
who was also apprehended from the spot.
5. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioner.
6. 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 Trial Court
within a period of six weeks from today, be released on
Provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.
500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the like
amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Trial Court where
the case is pending/successor court in connection with
Madhwapur P.S. Case No. 178 of 2025 subject to the conditions
as laid down under Section 482 (2) of the BNSS.
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned Trial Court
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
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seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed her antecedent before this
Court, as such, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be
confirmed, but after verification if 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)
Rishabh/-
U T
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