Patna High Court
Dhauli Devi @ Amita DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The High Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to petitioners 1 and 2 subject to bond, sureties and verification of antecedents, with confirmation contingent on the antecedent limits.
Summary
The petitioners, three siblings, applied for anticipatory bail in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act concerning alleged recovery of 20 litres of liquor. The petitioners sought to withdraw the application for the third sibling who had already been arrested. The court granted permission to withdraw that application and ordered provisional anticipatory bail for the first two petitioners, requiring a bail bond of Rs.20,000 with two sureties each. The bail is conditioned on the petitioners surrendering within six weeks and the trial court verifying that their criminal antecedents do not exceed four cases for petitioner 1 and two cases for petitioner 2. If the antecedent limits are exceeded, the provisional bail will not be confirmed; otherwise it will be confirmed forthwith.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted to the petitioners under the circumstances of the excise offence.
- Whether the court may impose conditions such as bail bond, sureties, and verification of criminal antecedents.
- Whether the withdrawal of the anticipatory bail application for the third petitioner is permissible.
Legislation cited
- Bihar Excise Act — s. 30(a)
- Bihar Negotiable Securities Act — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- bail bond
- criminal antecedent
- Bihar Excise Act
- Section 30(a)
- Section 482(2)
- provisional bail
- withdrawal of application
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.31609 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-310 Year-2026 Thana- ALAMGANJ District- Patna
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1. Dhauli Devi @ Amita Devi W/o Sumari Lal Sahani @ Sumir Sahni @
Sumir Kumar Resident of Gosain Ghat, Jhoparpatti, in front of Machhali
Godown, PS- Alamganj, District- Patna
2. Boby @ Baby Kumar S/o Sumari Lal Sahani @ Sumir Sahni @ Sumir
Kumar Resident of Gosain Ghat, Jhoparpatti, in front of Machhali Godown,
PS- Alamganj, District- Patna
3. Surya @ Surya Kumar S/o Sumari Lal Sahani @ Sumir Sahni @ Sumir
Kumar Resident of Gosain Ghat, Jhoparpatti, in front of Machhali Godown,
PS- Alamganj, District- Patna
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Ravi Shanker Pankaj
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr.Md. Nazir Ansari
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 12-05-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned
A.P.P. for the State.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioners seeks permission
to withdraw the anticipatory bail application with respect to
petitioner no. 3 (Surya @ Surya Kumar), who was arrested during
pendency of the instant anticipatory bail application.
3. Permission is accorded.
4. The petitioner nos. 1 and 2 apprehend their arrest in a
case registered for the offences punishable under Section 30(a) of
the Bihar Excise Act.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.31609 of 2026(2) dt.12-05-2026
2/3
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that
petitioner no. 1 has antecedent of four cases under the Excise Act
and petitioner no. 2 has antecedent of two cases under the Excise
Act and petitioner no. 1 is a woman and allegation is of recovery of
20 litres of liquor from a sack at gossayi ghat.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the
petitioners were not arrested from the spot as such nothing was
recovered from their conscious possession and even the alleged
recovery is from a place which does not belong to the petitioners
and is accessible to public at large and they have no concern with
the sack and they came to be implicated at the instance of local
people, but then the name of the person, who disclosed the name of
the petitioners, is not disclosed in the FIR, which casts an aspersion
on the case of the prosecution, when petitioners have not been
implicated based on secret information. It is further submitted that
once an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise, the
police starts implicating mechanically either at the instance of
Chowkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret
information without holding a proper investigation.
7. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioners.
8. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioners, the petitioner nos. 1 and 2 above-
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.31609 of 2026(2) dt.12-05-2026
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named, in the event of their arrest or surrender within a period of
six weeks from today, be released on provisional anticipatory
bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees Twenty
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 connection with Alamganj P.S. Case
No. 310 of 2026, subject to the conditions as laid down under
Section 482(2) of the BNSS.
9. It is made clear that thereafter the learned Trial Court
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
four cases and petitioner no. 2 has antecedent of more than two
cases then it would be presumed that petitioners, for the purposes
of seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed their antecedent before
this Court, as such, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall not
be confirmed with respect to that petitioner who had concealed his
criminal antecedent before this Court, but after verification if it is
found that petitioner no. 1 has antecedent of four cases and
petitioner no. 2 has antecedent of two cases in that event the
provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sumit/-
U T
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