Patna High Court
Shiv Kumar Yadav @ Shivrath YadavversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
Provisional anticipatory bail was granted subject to a bail‑bond, sureties and verification of the petitioner’s antecedents.
Summary
Shiv Kumar Yadav applied for anticipatory bail after learning that he might be arrested in a case under Sections 274 and 275 of the B.N.S., 2023 and Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act for allegedly possessing 225 litres of liquor recovered from a bush near a canal. The petitioner argued that the liquor was not in his conscious possession, the recovery site did not belong to him, and the FIR omitted the name of the informant, casting doubt on the prosecution’s case. He also highlighted his eight prior excise cases, contending that the police had mechanically implicated him without proper investigation. The court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail‑bond of Rs.40,000 with two sureties and directed verification of his criminal antecedents; if more than eight prior cases are found, the bail would not be confirmed. The application was allowed, subject to the stipulated conditions.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in an excise case where the alleged contraband was not found in the accused’s possession.
- Whether the petitioner’s prior eight cases under the Excise Act affect the grant of anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- B.N.S., 2023 — s. 274, 275
- B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- liquor seizure
- criminal antecedents
- Section 482(2)
- bail bond
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.365 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-187 Year-2025 Thana- LAUKAHI District- Madhubani
======================================================
Shiv Kumar Yadav @ Shivrath Yadav Son of Dayalal Yadav Resident of
Village- Atari, P.S.- Laukahi, District- Madhubani
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ratnakar Jha, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Pradeep Narain Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 15-01-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case registered
for the offences punishable under Sections 274 and 275 of
B.N.S., 2023 as well as Section 30(a) of Bihar Prohibition and
Excise Act.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner has antecedents of eight cases under the Excise Act
and allegation is of recovery of 225 litres of liquor from a bush
near a canal. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested
from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his
conscious possession and even alleged recovery is from a place
which does not belong to the petitioner and is accessible to
villagers at large and he came to be implicated at the instance of
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.365 of 2026(2) dt.15-01-2026
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local person but then name of the person, who disclosed the
name of the petitioner, is not disclosed in the FIR, which casts
an aspersion on the case of the prosecution. It is also 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.
4. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
5. Considering the submissions made by the learned
counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner, above-named, in the
event of his arrest or surrender before the learned Court below
within a period of six weeks, is directed to be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on his furnishing bail-bond in the
sum of Rs.40,000/- (Rupees Forty Thousand) with two sureties
of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Special
Judge, Excise Act, Jhanjharpur in connection with Laukahi P.S.
Case No.187 of 2025, subject to the conditions laid down under
Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.
6. The application stands allowed.
7. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bonds of the petitioner shall verify
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the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and in the event, if it is
found that petitioner has antecedents of more than eight cases,
then it would be presumed that petitioner for the purposes of
obtaining anticipatory bail had concealed his 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 has antecedents of only eight cases, in that event,
the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed
forthwith.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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