Patna High Court
Shobha DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The Court conditionally granted provisional anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to verification of her criminal antecedent.
Summary
Shobha Devi, a resident of Garju Bigha in Gaya district, sought anticipatory bail after the police registered a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act alleging recovery of 8 litres of liquor from Sita Devi's house and 6 litres from her own house. She contended that she had no conscious possession of the liquor, that the property is a joint family house, and that the 2018 amendment to the Excise Act had abolished the concepts of deemed possession and presumed offender. The State opposed the bail, arguing the allegations warranted arrest. The Court, considering the petitioner's clean antecedent and the factual disputes, granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition that she furnish a bail bond of Rs. 500 with two sureties and that the trial court verify her criminal antecedent within six weeks. The order stipulated that if any antecedent is discovered, the bail would not be confirmed; otherwise, it would be confirmed forthwith.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Excise Act where possession is alleged but not proven.
- Effect of the 2018 amendment removing deemed possession and presumed offender concepts on the bail application.
- Whether the joint family nature of the property negates the presumption of possession by the petitioner.
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- Bihar Excise Act
- Section 30
- Section 482
- possession
- joint family property
- criminal antecedent
- bail conditions
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.90178 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-506 Year-2025 Thana- KONCH District- Gaya
======================================================
Shobha Devi W/o Raju Manjhi Resident of Village- Garju Bigha, P.S.- Konch,
District- Gaya
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Vinod Kumar, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Md. Anzarul Haque Sahara, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 08-01-2026 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 offences punishable under Section 30(a) 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 8 liters of liquor from house of Sita
Devi and 6 liters of liquor from house of the petitioner.
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 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
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the house or the liquor kept in the house was within her
knowledge and after amendment in the excise act in the year
2018, the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender
has been done away with and the petitioner came to be
implicated at the instance of Chowkidar, but then it is submitted
that if Chowkidar was aware of the involvement of the
petitioner in the occurrence then why he did not inform the
police prior to institution of the instant FIR which casts an
aspersion on the case of the prosecution.
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 Konch
P.S. Case No. 506 of 2025 subject to the conditions as laid down
under Section 482 (2) of the BNSS.
7. It is made clear that thereafter the learned Trial
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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
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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