Patna High Court
Gyanti 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 criminal antecedent.
Summary
Gyanti Devi, the owner of a motorcycle from which 126 litres of liquor was seized, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest under Sections 30(a) and 32(3) of the Bihar Excise Act. She argued that she had no prior criminal record, was unaware of her friend’s alleged misuse of the vehicle, and that the liquor was not found in her conscious possession. The State opposed the bail, contending the seriousness of the offence. The Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition of furnishing a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and subject to verification of her antecedent under Section 482(2) of the BNSS. The order directs the trial court to confirm the bail if she is found to have a clean record, otherwise the bail may be revoked.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 482(2) of the BNSS in a case of alleged possession of illicit liquor.
- Whether ownership of the vehicle used for the alleged offence suffices to implicate the owner without proof of conscious possession.
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- seizure of liquor
- ownership vs possession
- clean antecedent
- Section 482
- criminal procedure
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.28432 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-500 Year-2025 Thana- Excise P.S. District- Siwan
======================================================
Gyanti Devi W/o Jagdish R/o Village - Satro Satrao, P.S.- Satraon, District -
Deoria (U.P)
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Chandra Shekhar Kumar Singh, Adv
Mr. Abhhishek Kumar Verma, Adv
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Renuka Ratnakar(App125)
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 29-04-2026 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 30(a) and
32(3) of the Bihar Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and is a woman and
allegation is of recovery of 126 litres of liquor from a
motorcycle.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the
petitioner was not arrested from the spot as such nothing was
recovered from her conscious possession and she came to be
implicated based on the fact that she is owner of the seized
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.28432 of 2026(2) dt.29-04-2026
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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 her friend would misuse the vehicle in the manner as
alleged, who fled from the spot. It is also submitted that it is not
the case of the prosecution that they saw fleeing a woman from
the place of occurrence.
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 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 Excise (Sadar) P.S. Case No. 500 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
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then it would be presumed that petitioner, for the purposes of
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)
Sumit/-
U T
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