Patna High Court
Rina DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to conditions and verification of her antecedents, under Section 482(2) of the BNSS.
Summary
Rina Devi, the owner of a Scorpio vehicle and a Bullet motorcycle, was implicated in a case alleging the recovery of 468 litres of liquor from her vehicles, violating Sections 30(a) and 41(i) of the Bihar Excise Act. She argued that she had no knowledge of the liquor being in the vehicles, had a clean criminal record, and was not in possession of the contraband at the time of seizure. The State opposed her request for anticipatory bail. The High Court, after considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and conditioned on verification of her antecedents by the trial court. The order stipulated that if any prior case is discovered, the bail would be deemed concealed and the provisional order would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail under the circumstances of alleged possession of liquor in her vehicle.
- Whether ownership of the vehicle alone suffices to establish culpability under the Bihar Excise Act.
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- excise law
- liquor seizure
- vehicle ownership
- clean antecedent
- Section 482
- criminal procedure
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.77278 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-320 Year-2024 Thana- DURAULI District- Siwan
======================================================
Rina Devi W/O Sugreem Singh R/O Village- Mahamudpur, P.S- Andar, Distt.-
Siwan.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ashok Singh, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms. Meena Singh, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
3 23-02-2026 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 offences punishable under Sections 30(a) and
41(i) of the Bihar 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 468 liters of liquor from a Scorpio
vehicle and one Bullet motorcycle.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner was not apprehended from the spot as such nothing
was recovered from her conscious possession and she came to
be implicated based on the fact that she is owner of the seized
vehicle. It is next submitted that no prudent person would use
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her own vehicle for committing an occurrence and thus would
create evidence against herself and hence would get implicated,
it is also submitted that petitioner was completely unaware that
Rajan would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged who
was also apprehended from the spot along with Sudhanshu and
Vijay.
5. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for
anticipatory bail of the petitioner.
6. 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 Trial Court
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 Darauli
P.S. Case No. 320 of 2024 subject to the conditions as laid down
under Section 482 (2) of the BNSS.
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned Trial
Court 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
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purposes of seeking anticipatory bail, had concealed her
antecedent before this Court, as such, the provisional
anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed, but after
verification if 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)
Rishabh/-
U T
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