Vijay Chaubey v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.36110 of 2019 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-20 Year-2019 Thana- SATHI District- West Champaran ====================================================== VIJAY CHAUBEY Son of Prajapati Chaubey Resident of Village- Pandey Nand Tola, Police Station- Sathi, District- West Champaran. ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr.Brij Kishor Mishra For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr.Sanjay Kumar Pandey ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH KUMAR SINGH ORAL ORDER 11-06-2020 The matter has been taken up through virtual court proceeding.

Heard learned counsels for the petitioner and the State.

The present application has been filed with a prayer for bail in a case registered for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, as amended by Act 8 of 2018 A bench of this Court, vide order dated 10.06.2019, granted provisional bail to the petitioner who was in custody since 19.3.2019 and further directed the matter to be listed after disposal of S.L.P. (C) Nos. 27949-29763 of 2016, wherein the vires of the Bihar Excise Act, 1915 and the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 is under challenge. The relevant portion of

2/4 the order reads as follows:- "Recently, the Full Bench of this Court in a case i.e. Criminal Appeal (SJ) No. 431 of 2019 (Ram Vinay Yadav vs. The State of Bihar) has noticed that vires of entire Excise Act as well as amended Excise Act is pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Court is of opinion that since vires of entire Excise Act is already sub-judice before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, it would not be appropriate for this court to finally dispose of any case pertaining to Excise Act. However, at the same time, it would not be appropriate to allow a person to remain in custody for an indefinite period.

List this matter after disposal of S.L.P. (C) Nos. 27949-29763 of 2016 and connected writ petitions pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Till further order, the petitioners namely Vijay Chaubey is directed to be released provisionally on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- (ten thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned learned Special Judge, Excise, Bettiah, District - West Champaran in connection with Sathi P.S. Case No. 20 of 2019." Due to present pandemic, Covid-19, the physical court proceedings in the Supreme Court are not being conducted, as a result, there is no likelihood of the aforementioned S.L.P. being disposed of in near future. Hence, the application has been heard on merits.

3/4 As per the prosecution case, on raid, total 80 litres of country made liquor were recovered from the hutment of the petitioner. The apprehended co-accused Nihal Pandey disclosed the name of the petitioner as the person who escaped from the place of seizure.

It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the recovery has not been made from the conscious physical possession of the petitioner though the petitioner has been made accused in five other cases. It is further submitted that there is nothing on record to suggest that the petitioner has misused the privilege of provisional bail.

Learned APP submits that the petitioner managed to escape from the scene and his son-in-law was apprehended from the spot.

Considering the aforesaid facts and submissions of the parties, particularly the fact that there is nothing on record to suggest that the petitioner has misused the privilege of provisional bail and the petitioner has remained on provisional bail for a considerable period, the provisional bail granted to the petitioner vide order dated 10.06.2019 in connection with Sathi P.S. Case No. 20 of 2019, pending in the Court of learned Special Judge, Excise, Bettiah, District - West Champaran, is hereby

4/4 confirmed.

The learned Court below will be at liberty to cancel the bail bonds of the petitioner in case he substantially involves in similar nature of offence.

Accordingly, the order dated 10.6.2019 stands modified to the extent of placing the matter after disposal of aforementioned SLP.

The present application is, accordingly, disposed of. (Dinesh Kumar Singh, J) anil/- U