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Petitioner released on bail after being arrested under Sections 30/30(a)/38 of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016: High court of Patna

The petitioner was arrested under Section 30 Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, “Penalty for unlawful manufacture, import, export, transport, possession, sale, purchase, distribution, etc. of any intoxicant or liquor”, section 30(a), “Manufactures, possesses, buys, sells, distributes, collects, stores, bottles, imports, exports, transports, removes or cultivates any intoxicant, liquor and section 38 of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 which is now deleted after the amendment. This is in connection with Nanpur PS Case No. 298 of 2020 dated 30.07.2020.

This judgment was given in the high court of Judicature at Patna by Honorable Mr. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah on the 30th of July 2021 in the case of Bujun Rai versus the state of Bihar criminal miscellaneous No. 10243 of 2021, Ms. Madhubala represented as the advocate for the petitioner and Mr. Vinod Modi represented as the additional Public Prosecutor for the state of Bihar, the proceedings of the court were held through video conference.

The following are the facts of the case, the petitioner was accused of keeping illicit wine near the hut of a co-villager (Sikandar Das) and when the police on information went to the spot she caught Anita Devi while he was searching for the illicit wine, the police recovered 13.56 liters of wine and arrested the lady however the lady accused the petitioner of keeping the wine in her house.

The counsel for the petitioner held that the petitioner is the co-villager of co-accusation and these allegations are falsely implicated because the village politics and it was submitted that the recovered wine was not from the premises owned by the petitioner and therefore it is not reasonable to connect him to such a crime, the co-accused made this statement just to save herself from section 76(2) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act. The counsel further conceded that the petitioner has no other criminal antecedent and has no connection with the co-accused (Anita Devi) and the husband of the arrested lady who is the owner of the premises has not been accused.

The Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that the co-accused( Anita Devi) clearly stated that the wine which was recovered from her hut belonged to the petitioner  and there was no objection against the fact that the recovery was not made from the premises owned by the petitioner

After considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the court held that the petitioner will be released on bail upon furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 25,000/- (twenty-five thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned additional district judge.-II, subject to the conditions laid down in Section 438(2)Cr. P.C., 1973 “ (i) that one of the bailors shall be a close relative of the petitioner, (ii) that the petitioner and the bailors shall execute bond with regard to the good behavior of the petitioner, and (iii) that the petitioner shall also give an undertaking to the Court that he shall not indulge in any illegal/criminal activity.”

The court concluded that “Any violation of the terms and conditions of the bonds or the undertaking shall lead to cancellation of his bail bonds. The petitioner shall cooperate in the case and be present before the Court on each and every date. Failure to cooperate or being absent on two consecutive dates, without sufficient cause, shall also lead to cancellation of his bail bonds. It shall also be open for the prosecution to bring any violation of the foregoing conditions of bail by the petitioner, to the notice of the Court concerned, which shall take immediate action on the same after giving the opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.”

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