Patna High Court
Chandan KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court allowed the anticipatory bail application, granting provisional bail subject to verification of the petitioner’s antecedent.
Summary
The petitioner, Chandan Kumar, was implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018 for alleged possession of 10 litres of liquor at his house and 16 litres at a nearby location, though no liquor was recovered from his immediate possession and the house is a joint family property. He claimed a clean antecedent and argued that the accusation stemmed from a hostile local chowkidar rather than any actual involvement. The State opposed his anticipatory bail application. The High Court, applying Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S., granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and a verification of his criminal antecedent. The order stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith. The petitioner also undertook to deposit Rs.2,500 with the High Court Legal Services Committee.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S. in a case of alleged liquor possession under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018.
- Whether the alleged possession can be deemed to exist despite lack of recovery from the petitioner’s conscious possession and the joint family nature of the property.
Legislation cited
- B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- provisional bail
- Section 30(a)
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- Section 482(2)
- B.N.S.S.
- clean antecedent
- joint family property
- deemed possession
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.4816 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-411 Year-2025 Thana- JANDAHA District- Vaishali
======================================================
Chandan Kumar S/O Ram Babu Chaudhary R/O Village- Dih Buchauli, PS
Jandaha (Mahisaur), Dist.- Vaishali
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Pradeep Narain Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 02-02-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case registered
for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of Bihar
Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 10 litres of liquor from house of the petitioner and
16 litres of liquor from a place behind the house of Arvind Rai.
It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested from the
spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his conscious
possession and 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
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.4816 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
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house was within his knowledge and after amendment in the
Excise Act in the year 2018, the concept of deemed possession
and presumed offender has been done away with and he came to
be implicated at the instance of local Chowkidar and he has no
connection or relation with Arvind Rai. It is also submitted that
since he is on an inimical term with Chowkidar, as such, the
Chowkidar implicated him. It is next submitted that if
Chowkidar was aware of 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, when petitioner admittedly is a person
with clean antecedent.
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.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the
like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Exclusive Special
Excise Court No.1-cum-District & Additional Sessions Judge,
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.4816 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
3/3
Vaishali at Hajipur in connection with Jandaha (Mahisaur) P.S.
Case No.411 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 bond of the petitioner 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 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 is a person with clean antecedent, in that event, the
provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.
8. At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioner,
based on instruction, submits that petitioner undertakes to
deposit an amount of Rs.2500/- with High Court Legal Services
Committee, Patna within a period of two weeks from today.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
Sanjay/-
U T
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