Patna High Court
Yogendra BindversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court granted provisional anticipatory bail, subject to bond, sureties, and verification of antecedents, noting the absence of conscious possession and procedural deficiencies.
Summary
The petitioner, Yogendra Bind, sought anticipatory bail fearing arrest in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018, alleging recovery of 5.7 litres of liquor from his joint family house. He argued that he was not arrested at the scene, the liquor was not in his conscious possession, and the house being joint family property made it uncertain that he knew of or kept the liquor. The court noted that the 2018 amendment to the Excise Act removed the concepts of deemed possession and presumed offender, and the FIR did not disclose the informant’s name, casting doubt on the prosecution’s case. Considering these submissions, the High Court granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs.5,000 with two sureties and conditions under Section 482(2) of the CrPC, directing verification of his criminal antecedents. The bail may be revoked if verification reveals more than one prior case, otherwise the provisional order will be confirmed.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail in the absence of conscious possession of liquor.
- Whether the joint family nature of the property negates the presumption of possession under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2018.
- Whether the lack of disclosure of the informant in the FIR affects the validity of the prosecution’s case.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- possession
- joint family property
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- Section 30(a)
- Criminal Procedure Code
- Section 482
- criminal antecedent
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.5529 of 2026
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-102 Year-2025 Thana- DHAUDAD District- Rohtas
======================================================
Yogendra Bind Son of Late Ishwar Bind R/o Village - Dhaudadh, P.S. -
Dhaudadh, District - Rohtas.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ashwani Kumar Tiwary, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Anant Kumar 1, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 03-02-2026 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 has antecedent of one case under the Excise Act and
allegation is of recovery of 5.7 litres of liquor from the house of
the petitioner. 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 house was within his knowledge and after amendment in
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.5529 of 2026(2) dt.03-02-2026
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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 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.
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.5,000/- (Rupees Five Thousand) with two sureties of
the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Exclusive
Special Judge Excise-2, Sasaram, Rohtas in connection with
Dhaudadh P.S. Case No.102 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
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found that petitioner has antecedent of more than 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 has antecedent of only one case, 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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