Rita Devi v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.47902 of 2024 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-133 Year-2024 Thana- EKMA District- Saran ====================================================== Rita Devi Wife of Ranjit @ Ranjit Chaudhary R/O VILLAGE - NAUTAN BAZAR, P.S. - EKMA, DISTRICT - SARAN ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Rakesh Mohan Singh, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Md. Anzarul Haque Sahara, A.P.P.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 03-07-2024

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned A.P.P. for the State.

2. The petitioner apprehends her arrest in a case registered for the offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is a person with clean antecedent and is a woman.

4. Allegation is of recovery of 34 litres of liquor from a place behind the house of the petitioner.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from his conscious possession and after amendment in the Excise Act in the year 2018, the concept of deemed possession and presumed offender has been done away with. It is further submitted that petitioner came to be implicated based on the confessional statement of Pankaj Pandit in police custody from whom six litres of

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.47902 of 2024(2) dt.03-07-2024 2/2 liquor was recovered. It is next submitted that confessional statement in police custody does not have any evidentiary value in the eye of law.

6. Learned A.P.P. for the State opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner.

7. 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 from today, be released on anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.500/- (Rupees Five Hundred) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned court below where the case is pending/successor court in connection with Ekma P.S. Case No. 133 of 2024, subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438 (2) of the Cr.P.C.

8. However, the learned trial court, before accepting the bail bonds of the petitioner, shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of even one case in that event the present anticipatory bail order shall not be given effect to.

(Satyavrat Verma, J) Kundan/- U T