Patna High Court
Sanjay PaswanversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail, subject to verification of the petitioner’s antecedent, with the bail to be confirmed if no prior criminal record is found.
Summary
The petitioner, Sanjay Paswan, applied for anticipatory bail after being implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2018 for alleged recovery of 128.5 litres of liquor from two motorcycles, one of which he owned. He argued that he had a clean antecedent, was not in possession of the liquor, and was unaware that another individual, Abhiram Kumar, misused his vehicle. The State opposed the bail. The High Court, considering the submissions, granted provisional anticipatory bail subject to a Rs.500 bail bond with two sureties and directed verification of the petitioner’s criminal antecedent. The order stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would be revoked; otherwise, it would be confirmed. The application was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted to the petitioner under the circumstances of alleged involvement in an offence under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2018.
- Whether ownership of the vehicle used in the alleged offence suffices to implicate the petitioner.
- Whether the petitioner’s clean antecedent is a requisite condition for confirming anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Section 30(a)
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- vehicle ownership
- clean antecedent
- provisional bail
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.89037 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-140 Year-2025 Thana- MOHANPUR District- Gaya
======================================================
Sanjay Paswan son of Nagina Paswan Resident of village- Mohanpur PS,
District -Gaya
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Priyadarshi Pankaj Raj Anand, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Binod Kumar, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 05-01-2026 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 (Amendment) Act, 2018.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that
petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and allegation is of
recovery of 128.500 litres of liquor from two different
motorcycles. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested
from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his
conscious possession and he came to be implicated based on the
fact that he is owner of one of the seized vehicles. It is next
submitted that no prudent person would use his own vehicle for
committing an occurrence and thus, would create evidence
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against himself and hence, would get implicated. It is also
submitted that petitioner was completely unaware that Abhiram
Kumar would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged who
was also apprehended from the spot.
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-bonds in the
sum of Rs.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the
like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Exclusive
Special Excise Court No.-5, Gaya in connection with Mohanpur
P.S. Case No.140 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 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
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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)
Sanjay/-
U T
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