Sarika @ Sarika Kumari v. The State Of Bihar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.17068 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-395 Year-2025 Thana- NASRIGANJ District- Rohtas ====================================================== 1.
Sarika @ Sarika Kumari D/o- Gyanti Devi Resident of Village- Badiha PSNasriganj District- Rohtas 2.
Radhika Rani @ Radhika Kumari @ Radhika Devi D/o- Shivdayal Nat Resident of Village- Badiha PS- Nasriganj District- Rohtas 3.
Sheela Devi @ Sheela @ Sheela Nat W/o- Rupchand @ Rupchand Nat Resident of Village- Badiha PS- Nasriganj District- Rohtas ... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s :
Mr. Siddharth Harsh, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :
Mr. Shahabuddin Azeem @ S. Azeem, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RITESH KUMAR ORAL ORDER 20-05-2026 Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned APP for the State.
2. The petitioners apprehend their arrest in connection with Nasriganj P.S. Case No. 395 of 2025, for allegedly having committed offence under Sections 143(1), 145, 111, 296, 3(5) of BNS, and Sections 4, 8, 13, 14 of the POCSO Act, Sections 75 and 79 of the Juvenile Justice Act, Sections 3, 5 and 6 of the Immoral Traffic Act and Sections 16, 17 and 18 of Bonded Labour Act.
3. As per the prosecution case, which has been lodged on the basis of the written report submitted by the informant to the effect that on the basis of the secret information received by the superior police officials regarding trafficking of
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.17068 of 2026(4) dt.20-05-2026 2/3 minor girls from different states, a raiding party was constituted and raid was conducted in village Bardiha. The police found several girls, who were looking to be minor, near the house of Radhika Devi, Sonu Nat, Munna Paswan, Sheela Nat, Sarika Devi and Rajesh Gupta. The girls disclosed about their illegal confinement. Some persons were arrested from the place of occurrence, while some escaped from there. It was alleged that in the name of orchestra, brothel was being run by the accused persons.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are innocent and have not committed any offence. He further submits that the petitioners were not present at the place of occurrence and the name of the petitioners have been disclosed by the girls, who are alleged to have been recovered by the police, but without there being any specific allegation against them. He further submits that the petitioners have got no role in either running the orchestra or in any manner with the persons concerned with the orchestra. He further submits that the petitioners have got a clean antecedent.
5. Per contra, the learned APP for the state submits that the petitioners have been named in the case along with accused persons and they were working for the orchestra
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.17068 of 2026(4) dt.20-05-2026 3/3 owners, who were running Brothel in the garb of orchestra. He further submits that anticipatory bail petition of the co-accused Sonu Nat, has been rejected by a Hon'ble Single Judge of this Court vide order dated 08.04.2026 passed in Cr. Misc. No. 20575 of 2026.
6. Having heard the rival submissions and after going through the records, it appears that the petitioners are named accused in the present case and from perusal of the case diary, it would transpire that one of the girls has stated in her statement before the police and the Magistrate that the petitioners were sending her to different places for illegal activities for the last two years and she was being forced to do the same. Further, a learned Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 08.04.2026 passed in Cr. Misc. No. 20575 of 2026 has already rejected the anticipatory bail petition of coaccused Sonu Nat. Considering the above, this court is not inclined to grant the privilege of anticipatory bail to the petitioners and the same is accordingly rejected. (Ritesh Kumar, J) Ajay/Kunal/- U T