Pankaj Singh v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.80166 of 2023 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-52 Year-2023 Thana- RUPAULI District- Purnia ====================================================== PANKAJ SINGH SON OF MUSHRU SINGH RESIDENT OF VILLAGENAVTOLIYA, WARD NO. 1, P.S. RUPAULI (MOHANPUR), DISTRICTPURNEA ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

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

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Vijay Kumar, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Arun Kumar, A.P.P.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER 15-04-2024

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

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

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

4. Allegation is of recovery of 15 litres of liquor from 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 as such it cannot be alleged with certainty that it was the petitioner who had kept the

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.80166 of 2023(4) dt.15-04-2024 2/2 liquor in the house or the liquor kept in the house was within the knowledge of the petitioner and he came to be implicated based on the confessional statement of Loveli Kumari in police custody which 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 his 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 Rupauli (Mohanpur) P.S. Case No. 52 of 2023, 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