Patna High Court
Anil Bind @ Anil ChoudharyversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court ordered provisional anticipatory bail for the petitioner, subject to bond, sureties and verification of his antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Anil Bind, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act, where police alleged recovery of 17 litres of liquor from his house and 300 litres of semi‑manufactured liquor from a nearby location. He argued he has a clean antecedent, that the liquor was not in his conscious possession, and that the 2018 amendment to the Excise Act abolished the doctrine of deemed possession and presumed offender. He further contended that the house is joint family property, making it uncertain that he stored the liquor, and questioned the role of the chowkidar who did not inform police earlier. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, after considering these submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a Rs. 500 bond, two sureties of equal amount, and a verification of the petitioner’s criminal antecedent by the trial court, with the bail to be confirmed only if the antecedent is clean.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act.
- Whether the post‑2018 amendment to the Bihar Excise Act eliminates the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender for bail considerations.
- Whether joint family ownership of the premises negates inference of possession by the petitioner.
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Bihar Excise Act
- deemed possession
- joint family property
- Section 482(2) BNSS
- criminal antecedent
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.2370 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-267 Year-2025 Thana- SAHPUR District- Bhojpur
======================================================
Anil Bind @ Anil Choudhary son of Late Kamla Bind Resident Of Village -
Hariharpur, Ward No 1, Ps -Shahpur Dist -Bhojpur at Ara
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Shankar Kumar
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms.Gulnar Begum
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
3 26-02-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
learned A.P.P. for the State.
2. The petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case
registered for the offences punishable under Section 30(a) of the
Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 17 litres of liquor from the house of petitioner and
300 litres of semi manufactured liquor from a place near house
of the petitioner.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner was not arrested from the spot as such nothing was
recovered from his conscious possession and after 2018
amendment in the Excise Act, the concept of deemed possession
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.2370 of 2026(3) dt.26-02-2026
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and presumed offender has been done away with. It is next
submitted that 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 knowledge of the petitioner. It is further
submitted that recovery of 300 litres of semi manufactured
liquor is from a place which does not belong to the petitioner
but then is adjacent to his house and he came to be implicated at
the instance of Chowkidar but then it is submitted that if the
Chowkidar was aware about the involvement of the petitioner in
the occurrence, then why he did not inform the police prior to
institution of the instant FIR, which casts an aspersion on the
case of the prosecution.
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 his arrest or surrender 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
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.2370 of 2026(3) dt.26-02-2026
3/3
connection with Shahpur P.S. Case No. 267 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
seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed his 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)
Sumit/-
U T
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