Allowed¶19

Rita Devi v. The State of Bihar

Patna HC19 Feb 2026CR. MISC./7326/2026

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Anticipatory bail; provisional anticipatory bail; Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act Section 30(a); Section 438(2) Cr.P.C.; Section 482(2) BNSS; verification of criminal antecedents; concealment of antecedents; woman accused; alleged recovery of 140 litres of liquor; joint family property; Bahadurpur P.S. Case No. 375 of 2025; Patna; CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.7326 of 2026; Satyavrat Verma, J.; Rita Devi v. The State of Bihar.

What did the court decide?

Provisional anticipatory bail: release upon arrest or surrender within six weeks on furnishing bail bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of the like amount each, subject to Section 438(2) Cr.P.C./482(2) BNSS conditions; confirmation subject to trial-court verification of antecedents. ¶19

Rita Devi Vs The State of Bihar — Anticipatory Bail | Patna HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, who apprehends arrest in Bahadurpur P.S. Case No. 375 of 2025 registered for an offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, should be granted anticipatory bail.

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Court's answer

Petitioner, in the event of her arrest or surrender within six weeks, to be released on provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of the like amount each, subject to the conditions laid down under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C./482(2) of the BNSS.

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Ratio / Principle

Confirmation of the provisional anticipatory bail is conditional on the trial court verifying the petitioner's criminal antecedents: if more than two cases are found, she will be presumed to have concealed her antecedents before this Court and the provisional order shall not be confirmed; if verification shows only two cases, the order shall be confirmed forthwith.

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Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Anticipatory bail — Patna High Court (Satyavrat Verma, J.) allowed anticipatory bail, provisionally, to a woman petitioner apprehending arrest in Bahadurpur P.S. Case No. 375 of 2025 for an offence punishable under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act; counsel alleged recovery of 140 litres of liquor from a room of a joint-family house and two excise antecedents. Petitioner to be released on arrest or surrender within six weeks on bail bond of Rs.10,000/- with two like sureties, subject to Section 438(2) Cr.P.C./482(2) BNSS conditions. Confirmation made conditional on trial-court verification of antecedents: more than two cases to be treated as concealment (order not to be confirmed); only two cases, order confirmed forthwith.

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.7326 of 2026

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Arising Out of PS. Case No.-375 Year-2025 Thana- BAHADURPUR District- Patna

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======================================================

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Rita Devi S/o Santosh Manjhi R/o Mohalla - Bahadurpur, Musahari, P.S - Bahadurpur, District - Patna

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

The State of Bihar

... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Jitendra Kumar, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, A.P.P. ======================================================

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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SATYAVRAT VERMA ORAL ORDER

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2 19-02-2026

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Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and

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learned A.P.P. for the State.

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

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Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner has antecedent of two cases under the Excise Act and is a woman and allegation is of recovery of 140 litres of liquor from the room of the petitioner.

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Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner was not arrested from the spot, as such, nothing was recovered from her conscious possession. It is further submitted that the house in question is a joint family property, as such, it cannot be alleged with certainty that it was the petitioner who had kept the liquor in the house or the liquor kept in the house

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Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.7326 of 2026(2) dt.19-02-2026 2/3

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was within her knowledge. It is next submitted that petitioner came to be implicated at the instance of the local person but then the name of the person who disclosed the name of the petitioner is not disclosed in the FIR which casts an aspersion on the case of the prosecution. It is also submitted that once an accused is implicated in a case relating to excise the police start implicating mechanically either at the instance of the Chawkidar, local person, secret information or confessional statement without holding a proper investigation of the case. It is lastly submitted that petitioner earlier also came to be implicated in similar manner.

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

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Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner, let the petitioner above-named, in the event of her arrest or surrender within a period of six weeks from today, be released on provisional anticipatory bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned trial court where the case is pending/successor court in connection with Bahadurpur P.S. Case No. 375 of 2025, subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of

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Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.7326 of 2026(2) dt.19-02-2026 3/3

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the Cr.P.C./482(2) of the BNSS.

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It is made clear that thereafter the learned trial court shall verify the criminal antecedent of the petitioner and if it is found that petitioner has antecedent of more than two cases, it would be presumed that petitioner had concealed her antecedent before this Court at para 3 of the anticipatory bail application in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order shall not be confirmed but if it is found on verification that petitioner has antecedent of only two cases in that event the provisional anticipatory bail order shall be confirmed forthwith.

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(Satyavrat Verma, J)

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Kundan/-

Rita Devi v. The State of Bihar

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Rita Devi v. The State of Bihar

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Why is it important?

What the court decided

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