Patna High Court

Sunaina DeviversusThe State of Bihar

Decided: 6 January 2026
Disposal: DISPOSED
Bench: SATYAVRAT VERMA

Holding

The Court ordered provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner subject to bond, sureties and verification of antecedents.

Summary

The petitioner, Sunaina Devi, feared arrest in a case alleging possession of 7.5 litres of liquor under Sections 30(a) and 41(1) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act. She contended that she has a clean antecedent, is a woman, and that the liquor was found in a joint family house, not in her conscious possession, and that the concept of deemed possession was abolished by the 2018 amendment. The State opposed her prayer for anticipatory bail. The Court, after hearing both sides, granted provisional anticipatory bail conditioned on a bail bond of Rs.500 and two sureties of equal amount, and directed the trial court to verify her criminal antecedents. If any antecedent is discovered, the bail will not be confirmed; otherwise, the provisional order will be confirmed forthwith.

Issues considered

Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail in the alleged liquor possession case under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure — s. 482(2)

Subjects

anticipatory bail
liquor possession
Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
joint family property
clean antecedent
Section 482 CrPC

Judgment

                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                              CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.62382 of 2025
                  Arising Out of PS. Case No.-190 Year-2025 Thana- BANJARIA District- East Champaran
                 ======================================================
                 Sunaina Devi S/o Rameshwar Sahani Resident of village- Jhakhiya, P.S.-
                 Banjariya, Distt- East Champaran

                                                                                  ... ... Petitioner/s
                                                       Versus
                 The State of Bihar

                                                        ... ... Opposite Party/s
                 ======================================================
                 Appearance :
                 For the Petitioner/s     :       Mr. Abhishek Kumar
                 For the Opposite Party/s :       Mr. Rabindra Kumar
                 ======================================================
                 CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
                                       ORAL ORDER

3   06-01-2026                  1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned

                   A.P.P. for the State.

                                2. The petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case

                   registered for the offence punishable under Sections 30(a), 41(1)

                   of Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act.

                                3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that

                   petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and is a woman and

                   allegation is of recovery of 7.5 litres of liquor from house of the

                   petitioner. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested

                   from the spot as such nothing was recovered from her 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 her knowledge and after amendment in the
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.62382 of 2025(3) dt.06-01-2026
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          Excise Act in the year 2018, the concept of deemed possession

          and presumed offender has been done away with and she came

          to be implicated at the instance of chowkidar with whom her

          husband is on an inimical term.

                       4. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for

          anticipatory bail of the petitioner.

                       5. Considering the submissions made by the learned

          counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner above-named, in the

          event of her arrest or surrender before the learned Court below

          within a period of six weeks from today, be released on

          provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds 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 Banjariya

          P.S. Case No.190/2025, subject to the conditions as laid down

          under Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.

                       6. It is made clear that the learned trial court thereafter

          shall verify the criminal antecedents of the petitioner and in the

          event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one

          case, in that event, it would be presumed that petitioner had

          concealed her antecedent before this court, as such, the

          provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed but if
             Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.62382 of 2025(3) dt.06-01-2026
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                       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.



                                                 (Satyavrat Verma, J)
amit/-

U        T

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