Amit Kumar Ranjan v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.39656 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-100 Year-2026 Thana- JHAJHA District- Jamui ====================================================== Amit Kumar Ranjan S/o- Rajendra Prasad @ Rajendra Yadav Resident of Binova Nagar, V K S Colony Gaya Bihar, Presently Poste as Additional District Land Acquisition Officer, Nawada ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar 2.

Smt. Nisha Singh, Circle Officer, Jhajha, Jamui Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Shashi Sharma, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Sunil Kumar Pandey, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRABHAT KUMAR SINGH ORAL ORDER 24-06-2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the State .

2. Petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case registered for the offence punishable under sections 318(4), 338, 336(3) and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. 3 . The prosecution case was registered based on a written application by Nisha Singh, Circle Officer, Jhajha, acting on an official communication from the District Magistrate-cum-Collector, Jamui. The letter noted that following an inquiry at the Jhajha Circle Office on February 27, 2026, a three-member Enquiry Committee-originally constituted on February 25, 2026-submitted its report on

2/4 March 5, 2026. The report revealed that the then Revenue Officer, Sri Awdhesh Kumar, the then In-charge Revenue Officer, Sri Ramanand Das, and the then Circle Officer, Sri Amit Kumar Ranjan, had initially rejected a mutation application on the grounds that the property fell under Gairmajarua Khata and Khasra; however, they subsequently and contradictorily approved the mutation of the exact same Gairmajarua land in favor of certain riyats, leading to the registration of this case against the accused persons.

4. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that petitioner is quite innocent and has falsely been implicated in this case due to misconception of facts by the Enquiry Committee. The petitioner has passed mutation order on the basis of the report of the revenue Karamchari and the verification report of the revenue officer, the then C.I. and on perusal of documents submitted therewith. It is further submmitted that Bihar Land Mutation Act, 2011 clearly demonstrates that an order passed in mutation proceeding is always subject to appeal, revision and correction under the statutory mechanism and therefore mere passing of mutation orders cannot give rise to criminal liability in absence of any allegation of personal gain, forgery or dishonest intention. The

3/4 petitioner has not cheated anyone nor committed any forgery of any document. It is relevant to mention that identical allegations exist against the informant of the present case, yet she has not been arrayed as an accused, which clearly demonstrates a double standard in the findings of the Enquiry Committee. Furthermore, rather than initiating criminal proceedings, the Enquiry Committee itself ought to have recommended the statutory cancellation of the mutation order in question. Given that the petitioner is a public servant who passed the alleged orders in the bona fide discharge of his official duties, his prosecution in the present case is entirely illegal, and the alleged offenses are simply not made out against him. Petitioner claims clean antecedent.

5 . Learned counsel for the State opposed the bail petition .

6 Considering the aforesaid facts, materials available on record clean antecedent of the petitioner and other circumstances of the case , in the event of arrest or surrender within eight weeks from today, let the petitioner, as named above, be enlarged on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs.10,000/-(ten thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate,

4/4 Jamui in connection with Jhajha P.S. Case No. 100 of 2026 , subject to the conditions laid down under section 482(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 .

(Prabhat Kumar Singh, J) Koushik/Alok RajU T