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Patna High Court

Jitendra Kumar Das @ Jitendra Kuar Das @ Jitendra KumarversusThe State of Bihar

Decided
Disposal
DISPOSED

Holding

The anticipatory bail application is allowed, granting provisional bail subject to conditions and verification of the petitioner’s antecedent.

Summary

The petitioner, Jitendra Kumar Das, applied for anticipatory bail under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C. in a case registered under Section 30(a) of the Excise Act for alleged recovery of 114.120 litres of liquor from his joint family house. The petitioner asserted a clean antecedent, no arrest, and that the liquor was not in his conscious possession, further contending that the amendment to the Excise Act in 2018 abolished the concepts of deemed possession and presumed offender. The prosecution opposed the bail, but the court noted the lack of a named informant in the FIR and the absence of evidence linking the petitioner directly to the liquor. Considering these factors, the court directed provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing bail bonds and sureties, subject to verification of the petitioner’s antecedent. The order stipulated that if any prior case is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith.

Issues considered

  • Whether anticipatory bail should be granted to the petitioner under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C. in view of the alleged offence under Section 30(a) of the Excise Act.
  • Whether the amendment to the Excise Act, 2018, eliminating deemed possession and presumed offender, affects the prosecution's case.

Legislation cited

Subjects

  • anticipatory bail
  • Section 438 CrPC
  • Excise Act
  • Section 30(a)
  • clean antecedent
  • joint family property
  • deemed possession

Judgment

                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                              CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.83605 of 2025
                     Arising Out of PS. Case No.-296 Year-2025 Thana- Excise P.S. District- Samastipur
                 ======================================================
                 Jitendra Kumar Das @ Jitendra Kuar Das @ Jitendra Kumar S/O Muneshwar
                 Das R/O Village- Korbadha Ward No. 36, P.S.- Mufffasil, District- Samastipur

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

                                                        ... ... Opposite Party/s
                 ======================================================
                 Appearance :
                 For the Petitioner/s     :         Mr.Shashank Shekhar
                 For the Opposite Party/s :         Mr.Pradeep Narain Kumar
                 ======================================================
                 CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
                                       ORAL ORDER

3   19-01-2026                   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 114.120 litres of liquor from the house 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 the house in

                   question is a joint family property and thus, it cannot be alleged

                   with certainty that it was the petitioner, who had kept the liquor
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.83605 of 2025(3) dt.19-01-2026
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          in the house or the liquor kept in the house was within his

          knowledge and after Amendment in the Excise Act, 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 the name of the person, who disclosed the

          name of the petitioner is not disclosed in the F.I.R., which casts

          an aspersion on the case of the prosecution, when admittedly

          petitioner is a person with clean antecedent.

                       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

          Excise P. S. Case No.296 of 2025, subject to the conditions laid

          down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C.

                       7. The application stands allowed.

                       8. It is made clear that the learned trial Court after
               Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.83605 of 2025(3) dt.19-01-2026
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                         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.


                                                   (Satyavrat Verma, J)
vikash/-

U          T


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