Patna High Court
Gudiya DeviversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- SATYAVRAT VERMA
Holding
The court allowed the anticipatory bail application, granting provisional bail subject to conditions.
Summary
Gudiya Devi applied for anticipatory bail after being implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act for the alleged recovery of 8.25 litres of liquor from a motorcycle she owned. She argued that she had no prior criminal record, was a woman, and had no conscious possession of the liquor, asserting that she was unaware of her friend's alleged misuse of the vehicle. The State opposed the bail, but the High Court, considering the submissions, directed that she be released on provisional anticipatory bail upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties, subject to Section 482(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court also ordered that the trial court verify her antecedent; if any prior case is found, the bail would not be confirmed, otherwise it would be confirmed immediately. The application for anticipatory bail was allowed.
Issues considered
- Whether anticipatory bail can be granted in a case of alleged possession of liquor under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act.
- Whether ownership of the vehicle used in the alleged offence is sufficient to deny anticipatory bail.
- Whether the petitioner’s clean antecedent and gender are relevant factors for granting anticipatory bail.
Legislation cited
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — s. 482(2)
Subjects
- anticipatory bail
- possession of liquor
- Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
- vehicle ownership
- clean antecedent
- gender considerations
- Criminal Procedure Code
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.91104 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-771 Year-2025 Thana- MANER District- Patna
======================================================
Gudiya Devi W/o Surendra Chaudhari R/o Village- Saray Mohalla, PS-
Maner, District- Patna, Bihar
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Apurv Harsh, Advocate
Mr. Manu Tripurari, Advocate
Mr. Raghu Raj Pratap, Advocate
Ms. Jaya Singh, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Ms. Indu Kumari Srivastava, APP
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
ORAL ORDER
2 12-01-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned
APP for the State.
2. Petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case
registered for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) 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 8.25 litres of liquor from a
motorcycle. It is next submitted that petitioner was not arrested
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
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submitted that no prudent person would use her own vehicle for
committing an occurrence and thus, would create evidence
against herself and hence, would get implicated. It is also
submitted that it is not the case of the prosecution that they saw
a woman fleeing from the place of occurrence. It is further
submitted that petitioner was completely unaware that her friend
would misuse the vehicle in the manner as alleged.
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 her arrest or surrender before the learned Court below
within a period of six weeks, is directed to be released on
provisional anticipatory bail on her furnishing bail-bond in the
sum of Rs.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the
like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Special
Excise Judge, Danapur in connection with Maner P.S. Case
No.771 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 bond of the petitioner shall verify
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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 her 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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