Patna High Court
Ramlal ManjhiversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court held that provisional anticipatory bail may be granted under Section 438 CrPC, subject to verification of the petitioners' criminal antecedents and compliance with bail bond conditions.
Summary
The petitioners applied for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code in connection with a case under Section 30(a) of the Excise Act alleging recovery of liquor from a field. They argued that they were not arrested on the spot, that the alleged liquor was not in their possession, and that the FIR omitted the informant's name, casting doubt on the prosecution's case. The State opposed the bail. The High Court directed that, upon arrest or surrender within six weeks, the petitioners be released on provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000 with two sureties each, subject to verification of their criminal antecedents. The court stipulated that if the verification shows more antecedent cases than disclosed, the provisional bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed. The application was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioners under Section 438 CrPC in a case under the Excise Act.
- Whether the alleged facts and lack of recovery from the petitioners' possession justify denial of bail.
- Whether the petitioners' criminal antecedents affect the grant of anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 438(2)
- Excise Act — s. 30(a)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Section 438 CrPC
- Excise Act
- bail conditions
- criminal antecedent
- provisional bail
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.19163 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-156 Year-2025 Thana- SRINAGAR District- West Champaran
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1. Ramlal Manjhi S/O Late Mahavir Manjhi R/O Village- Jagdambapur
Mushahar Toli, P.S- Srinagar, Distt.- West Champaran.
2. Anil Manjhi S/O Shyamlal Manjhi R/O Village- Jagdambapur Mushahar
Toli, P.S- Srinagar, Distt.- West Champaran.
3. Dharmendra Manjhi S/O Ramlal Manjhi R/O Village- Jagdambapur
Mushahar Toli, P.S- Srinagar, Distt.- West Champaran.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Umesh Kumar Gupta
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Akbar Ali
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 26-03-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and
learned APP for the State.
2. The petitioners seek bail in anticipation of their
arrest in a case registered for the offences punishable under
Section 30(a) of the Excise Act.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that
the petitioner no.1 has antecedent of two cases under the Excise
Act, petitioner no.2 is a person with clean antecedent and
petitioner no.3 has antecedent of one case under the Excise Act
and the allegation is of recovery of 02 litres of liquor along with
100 litres of liquor of jawa mahua solution from a field.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.19163 of 2026(2) dt.26-03-2026
2/3
4. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that
petitioners were not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was
recovered from their conscious possession and even alleged
recovery is from a field, which does not belong to the petitioners
and is accessible to public at large and he came to be implicated
at the instance of local person, but the name of the person, who
disclosed the name of the petitioners is not disclosed in the
F.I.R., which casts an aspersion on the case of the prosecution. It
is next submitted that police in majority of cases implicating
innocent persons either at the behest of Chaukidar, local person,
secret information and confessional statement in a mechanical
manner without holding a proper investigation.
5. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
6. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioners, the petitioners, above-named, in the
event of their arrest or surrender before the learned Court below
within a period of six weeks, is directed to be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on their furnishing bail-bonds in
the sum of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) each with two
sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned
Trial Court where the case is pending/ successor Court in
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.19163 of 2026(2) dt.26-03-2026
3/3
connection with Srinagar P. S. Case No.156 of 2025, subject to
the conditions laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.
7. The application stands allowed.
8. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bonds of the petitioners shall
verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioners and in the event,
if it is found that petitioner no.1 has antecedent of more than
two cases, petitioner no.2 has antecedent of even one case and
petitioner no.3 has antecedent of more than one case, then it
would be presumed that petitioners for the purposes of obtaining
anticipatory bail had concealed their 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 no.1 has antecedent of two cases only, petitioner
no.2 is a person with clean antecedent and petitioner no.3 has
antecedent of one case only, in that event, the provisional
anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
vikash/-
U T
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