Priyanka Devi v. The State Of Bihar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL APPEAL (SJ) No.2578 of 2024 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-180 Year-2024 Thana- BUXAR District- Buxar ====================================================== Priyanka Devi Wife Of Ravi Verma @ Paspat Verma Village- Civil Line P.SBuxar (T) , Dist- Buxar ... ... Appellant/s
Versus
1.
The State of Bihar 2.
Rina Devi Wife Of Late Shashibhushan Ram Village- Shantinagar Bus Stand, Ps- Buxar (T), Dist- Buxar ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :
For the Appellant/s :
Mr.Dr. Kamal Deo Sharma, Advocate For the Respondent/s :
Mr.Sadanand Paswan, Spl. P.P.
====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP KUMAR ORAL ORDER 11-11-2025 Heard learned counsel for the appellants, learned Spl. P.P. for the State and learned counsel for the Informant. 2.
This appeal is preferred against the order dated 10.05.2024 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge-Icum-Spl. Judge (SC/ST, Act) Buxar, passed in ABP No. 531 of 2024, in connection with Buxar (T) P.S. Case No. 180 of 2024, registered under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 27 of the Arms Act and under Section 3(2)(v) of the S.C./ S.T. Act, by which the prayer for Anticipatory bail of the Appellant has been rejected.
3. As per the prosecution case, the accused persons named in the F.I.R. used to extort money from the informant and others. It is alleged that her husband did not pay extortion
2/4 amount, thereafter, her husband's dead body was found near the railway bridge.
4.
Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the appellant has falsely been implicated in this case and no offence under the provisions of SC/ST Act is made out in this case as the main thrust of allegation is because of a trivial dispute and not because of prosecution side belonging to the SC/ST community, therefore not even a prima facie case is made out and consequently, this application for anticipatory bail is maintainable. He relies upon the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Kiran Vs. Rajkumar Jivraj Jain and Anr. reported in 2025 INSC 1067 and in the case of Hitesh Verma Vs. State of Uttarakhand reported in (2020) 10 SCC
710. The specific allegation is against the co-accused persons Shashi Yadav, Atal Yadav and Bismillah Khan. The appellant has no criminal antecedent.
5.
Learned counsel for the State and the informant have opposed the prayer of the appellants for grant of bail.
6.
I have considered the submissions of the parties and perused the materials on record.
7.
From reading of the F.I.R., it appears that the
3/4 the specific allegation is against the co-accused persons Shashi Yadav, Atal Yadav and Bismillah Khan. The appellant has no criminal antecedent and other co-accused Pradeep Rajbhar has been granted privilege of Anticipatory bail vide order dated 17.04.2025 passed in Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 4594 of 2024 as well as it does not appear that offence has been committed against the informant on the ground that he is a member of S.C./S.T. community.
8.
Considering the aforesaid facts and also the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Kiran vs. Rajkumar Jivraj Jain and Anr. (Supra) and in the case of Hitesh Verma Vs. State of Uttarakhand (supra), this application for grant of anticipatory bail is held to be maintainable.
9.
Having considered the submissions of the parties and also considering the facts of the case, this appeal is allowed. Accordingly, the order dated 10.05.2024 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge-I-cum-Spl. Judge (SC/ST, Act) Buxar, passed in ABP No. 531 of 2024, in connection with Buxar (T) P.S. Case No. 180 of 2024, is hereby set aside. 10.
Let the appellant, in the event of her arrest or surrender within four weeks from today, be released on bail on
4/4 furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 10,000/-(Rupees Ten Thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Addl. Sessions Judge-I-cum-Spl. Judge (SC/ST, Act) Buxar, in connection with Buxar (T) P.S. Case No. 180 of 2024, subject to the conditions laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure/482(2) of the BNSS. (Sandeep Kumar, J) manish/- U