In a bail petition arising out of a prohibited liquor case, the Court granted interim bail to the accused driver, finding that the illicit liquor was not in his conscious physical possession.
Directed the petitioner to be released on bail on furnishing a bond of Rs. 10,000/- with two sureties.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.11450 of 2022
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-12 Year-2022 Thana- MOHAMMADPUR District- Gopalganj
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Akhilesh Kumar Gour @ Akhilesh Kumar Gond S/o Nathuni Prasad Gour @ Nathuni Prasad Gond R/o village- Puraini, P.S.- Khukhundu, District- Deoria (U.P.)
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Shanti Bhushan Singh, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Arvind Kumar Pandey, APP. 84
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Let the defect(s), if any, be removed within a period of four weeks from today.
The petitioner seeks bail in connection with Mohammadpur P.S. Case No. 12 of 2022 registered for the offence under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition And Excise (Amendment) Act, 2018.
The accused/petitioner is named in the F.I.R. and is in custody since 22.01.2022.
The allegation against the petitioner is to have in possession of 257.655 liters of English wine, which was recovered from the dickey and under the seat of a Maruti Suzuki car bearing Registration no. UP 52 BK 0664.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.11450 of 2022(3) dt.22-07-2022 2/3
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that petitioner is the driver of the alleged vehicle and nothing surfaced during the course of investigation, which may suggest that petitioner is aware of the illegal consignment of illicit liquor loaded in the vehicle. It is submitted that recovery of illicit liquor is not from the conscious physical possession of the petitioner. While concluding the argument, it is submitted that petitioner is a man of clean antecedent and, moreover, investigation in this case is complete for which chargesheet has been submitted, as such, there is no chance of tampering with the evidence.
Learned APP appearing on behalf of the State, while opposing the prayer of bail, fairly conceded that petitioner is the driver of the alleged vehicle.
Considering the facts and circumstances as mentioned above, as recovery cannot be said from the conscious physical possession of the petitioner, who is a man of clean antecedent coupled with the fact that chargesheet has already been submitted, let the petitioner, above named, is directed to be released on bail in connection with Mohammadpur P.S. Case No. 12 of 2022 on furnishing bail bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.11450 of 2022(3) dt.22-07-2022 3/3
satisfaction of learned Additional District & Sessions Judge-II, Gopalganj/concerned Court, subject to the following conditions:
“(i) Accused/Petitioner shall
cooperate in the trial and shall be physically present on each and every date before the Trial Court till conclusion of the trial and exemption from physical appearance be allowed by the Trial Court, only on medical ground of the petitioner, duly supported by the documents.
(ii) That one of the bailors shall be Amit Gond, who is the cousin brother of the petitioner and deponent of the present bail petition.”
(Chandra Shekhar Jha, J)
Ankit/Shweta/-
U T
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the accused driver of a vehicle containing illicit liquor should be released on bail.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Akhilesh Kumar Gour @ Akhilesh Kumar Gond
The State of Bihar
Chandra Shekhar Jha
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
