Patna High Court

Neero DeviversusThe State of Bihar

Decided: 13 January 2026
Disposal: DISPOSED
Bench: SATYAVRAT VERMA

Holding

Provisional anticipatory bail is granted subject to bail bond, sureties and verification of the petitioner’s antecedents.

Summary

The petitioner, Neero Devi, sought anticipatory bail after being implicated in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2018 for allegedly possessing 7 litres of liquor recovered from a corridor outside her house. She argued that she has a clean antecedent, is a woman, and that the liquor was not in her conscious possession nor within the interior of the house, which is a joint family property, and that the allegation arose from a hostile watchman. The State opposed the bail. The Court granted provisional anticipatory bail on the condition that the petitioner furnish a bail bond of Rs.500 with two sureties and that the trial court verify her antecedents; if any prior case is found, the bail will not be confirmed, otherwise it will be confirmed. The order is subject to the provisions of Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S. (CrPC).

Issues considered

Whether the petitioner is entitled to anticipatory bail in a case under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Whether the circumstances of alleged possession and the petitioner’s antecedents justify granting bail.

Legislation cited

B.N.S.S. — s. 482(2)

Subjects

anticipatory bail
Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act
Section 30(a)
Section 482(2)
clean antecedent
joint family property
liquor possession

Judgment

                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                              CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.91697 of 2025
                       Arising Out of PS. Case No.-207 Year-2025 Thana- BEN P.S. District- Nalanda
                 ======================================================
                 Neero Devi W/O Yogendra Manjhi Resident of Village-Lenin Nagar, Police
                 Station-Ben, District-Nalanda

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

                                                        ... ... Opposite Party/s
                 ======================================================
                 Appearance :
                 For the Petitioner/s     :        Mr. Shakil Ahmad Khan
                 For the Opposite Party/s :        Mr. Sunil Kumar Pandey
                 ======================================================
                 CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA
                                       ORAL ORDER

2   13-01-2026                  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 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 is a woman and

                   allegation is of recovery of 7 litres of liquor from a corridor in

                   front of the door of petitioner’s house. It is next submitted that

                   petitioner was not arrested from the spot as such nothing was

                   recovered from her conscious possession and even alleged

                   recovery is from a place which does not form part of the house

                   and the house in question is a joint family property as such it

                   cannot be alleged with certainty that it was petitioner, who had
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.91697 of 2025(2) dt.13-01-2026
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          kept the liquor in the house or the liquor kept in the house was

          within her knowledge and she came to be implicated at the

          instance of chowkidar with whom her husband is on an inimical

          term.

                       4. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for

          anticipatory bail of the petitioner.

                       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 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 Ben P.S.

          Case No.207/2025, subject to the conditions as laid down under

          Section 482(2) of the B.N.S.S.

                       6. It is made clear that the learned trial court thereafter

          shall verify the criminal antecedents of the petitioner and in the

          event if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one

          case, in that event, it would be presumed that petitioner had

          concealed her antecedent before this court, as such, the

          provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed but if
             Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.91697 of 2025(2) dt.13-01-2026
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                       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)
amit/-

U        T

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