Manish Kumar v. The State of Bihar

====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : For the Opposite Party/s : ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE CHANDRA PRAKASH SINGH Mr. Sunil Kumar Singh, Adv Mr. Sucheta Yadav, APP ORAL ORDER 2 12-03-2024 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

The Petitioner is apprehending his arrest in connection with Sonepur P.S. Case No. 1218 of 2023 dated

25.12.2023 of the offences punishable u/s 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act 2018.

As per the prosecution case, total 2256 litres of illicit foreign liquor was recovered from the Sukhdev Ghat of Ganga River.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner is innocent and has falsely been implicated in this case. The petitioner has no criminal antecedent as stated in para 3 of the bail petition. The name of the petitioner was Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.16084 of 2024(2) dt.12-03-2024 disclosed by the local chaukidar. The said recovery has been made from an open place which is accessible to anyone. No incriminating article has been recovered from the conscious possession of the petitioner, hence no case is made out. Learned Counsel has relied on the judgment of Full Bench of Hon'ble Patna High Court in the case of Ram Vinay Yadav vs. State of Bihar reported in 2019 (2) PLJR 1089. The Full Bench in the case of Ram Vinay Yadav (supra) has held that an application for anticipatory bail in a case arising out of Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act can be maintained, despite the bar under Section 76 (2) of the Act, if on the basis of allegation made in the FIR, no offence under the said provision is made out.

Learned A.P.P. for the State has vehemently opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail of the petitioner by submitting that the bar of Section 76(2) of the Act applies in this case.

Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case as well as the nature of allegation against the petitioner, let the above named petitioner, in the event of his arrest/surrender within a period of six weeks from today, be enlarged on anticipatory bail on furnishing bail-bond of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand) with two sureties of the like Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.16084 of 2024(2) dt.12-03-2024 amount each to the satisfaction of the learned court concerned, Saran at Chapra, in connection with Sonepur P.S. Case No. 1218 of 2023 subject to conditions as laid down under section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.