Patna High Court
Dharamveer KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court held that the mere presence of the petitioner’s identity card at the scene, without arrest or proof of possession, does not justify denial of anticipatory bail, and therefore provisional anticipatory bail may be granted subject to conditions under Section 438 CrPC.
Summary
The petitioner, Dharamveer Kumar, applied for anticipatory bail after a police case was registered under Section 30(a) of the Excise Act for the alleged recovery of 21 litres of liquor from an abandoned bag at Barauni Railway Station, where his identity card was found. He contended that he was not arrested, had no conscious possession of the liquor, and that the bag was located in a public area, making the identity card the sole incriminating link. The State opposed the bail, but the Court noted the petitioner’s clean antecedent, lack of arrest, and the insufficiency of the identity card as evidence of guilt. Accordingly, the Court granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs.500, two sureties, verification of antecedent, and a deposit of Rs.1,500 with the Advocates’ Association. The order stipulated that if any prior case is discovered, the bail would be revoked; otherwise, it would be confirmed. The application was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted under Section 438 CrPC when the only evidence is the petitioner’s identity card found at the scene.
- Whether the petitioner’s clean criminal antecedent warrants the grant of anticipatory bail despite the alleged recovery of liquor.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 438(2)
- Excise Act — s. 30(a)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Section 30 Excise Act
- Section 438 CrPC
- identity card
- clean antecedent
- railway station
- bail bond
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.5030 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-227 Year-2025 Thana- BARAUNI RAIL P.S. District- Begusarai
======================================================
Dharamveer Kumar S/o- Arvind Paswan Resident Of Village- Baro Utri,
Gachhi Tola, Ps- Phulwariya, Dist- Begusarai
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Shivjee Singh
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms.Pronoti Singh
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 02-02-2026 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
learned APP for the State.
2. The petitioner seeks bail in anticipation of his
arrest in a case registered for the offences punishable under
Section 30(a) of the Excise Act.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
the petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is
of recovery of 21 litres of liquor from an abandoned bag at
platform no.1 of Teghra Railway Station along with Identity
Card of the petitioner.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits 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
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.5030 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
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and is accessible to public at large and he came to be implicated
based on the fact that his identity card was found at the place of
occurrence, but then, railway station is a busy place and
petitioner had lost his identity card, but then, police in
mechanical manner without investigating the case in its correct
perspective implicated the petitioner in the instant case. It is also
submitted that petitioner works as Coach Attendant on contract
basis and thus had lost his identity card which was found at the
platform.
5. Learned A.P.P. opposes the anticipatory bail
application.
6. 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-bonds in the
sum 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
Barauni Rail P. S. Case No.227 of 2025, subject to the
conditions laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.
7. The application stands allowed.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.5030 of 2026(2) dt.02-02-2026
3/3
8. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
accepting the provisional bail bonds 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.
9. At this stage, the learned counsel appearing on
behalf of the petitioner based on instruction submits that
petitioner undertakes to deposit an amount of Rs.1500/- with
Advocates’ Association, Patna High Court, Patna within a
period of two weeks from today.
(Satyavrat Verma, J)
vikash/-
U T
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