Shanti Devi v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.12075 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-344 Year-2025 Thana- SUPPI District- Sitamarhi ====================================================== Shanti Devi W/O Satyanarayan Sahani R/O Village - Maniyari, Ward no.- 10, P.S. - Suppi , District -Sitamarhi.

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Devendra Kumar, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Shyam Bihari Singh, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 26-02-2026 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 (Amendment) Act, 2022.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner has antecedent of one case under the Excise Act and is a woman and allegation is of recovery of 18.9 litres of liquor from a bush. 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 belong to the petitioner and she came to be implicated at the instance of local person but then name of the person who disclosed the name of the petitioner is not disclosed

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.12075 of 2026(2) dt.26-02-2026 2/3 in the FIR, which casts an aspersion on the case of the petitioner. It is also submitted that once an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise, the police starts implicating mechanically either at the instance of Chowkidar, local person, confessional statement or secret information without holding a proper investigation.

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.5,000/- (Rupees Five Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned I/C Exclusive Special Judge-cum-Excise Court-I, Sitamarhi, Bihar in connection with Suppi P.S. Case No.344 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 the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and in the event, if it is

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.12075 of 2026(2) dt.26-02-2026 3/3 found that petitioner has antecedent of more than 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 has antecedent of only one case, in that event, the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith. (Satyavrat Verma, J) Sanjay/- U T