Anticipatory bail practice in village assault cases often turns on two documents: the FIR's role attribution and the injury report. In Mantosh Kumar v. State of Bihar (Cr. Misc. No. 69125 of 2026, order dated 30 October 2026), Justice Rajiv Roy of the Patna High Court granted pre-arrest bail in a 2022 case from Bhojpur — Udwantnagar P.S. Case No. 159 of 2022 under Sections 323, 341, 307, 379, 504, 506 and 34 IPC — where the specific allegation against the petitioner was a single assault on the head, and the injury was medically found to be simple. The petitioner sweetened the balance without admitting guilt: a demand draft of Rs 10,000 deposited with the court's Nazarat for the injured person's medical assistance.
The allegations
The informant alleged that the accused persons gathered at her door, abused her and assaulted her family, causing injuries. Within that composite narrative, the role attributed to the petitioner was specific and single: an assault on Ramavadhesh Singh's head. The injury report graded that injury as simple. The petitioner had remained out of the process since 2022, and the State opposed bail on the strength of the assault allegation itself.
What moved the court
- Role specificity: one identified act against one injured person, rather than an omnibus allegation spanning the whole occurrence.
- Medical gradation: the injury was simple in nature — the single most load-bearing fact in assault-case bail practice.
- The deposit: Rs 10,000 by demand draft with the Nazarat, earmarked for the injured person's medical assistance, expressly without admission of the allegations, releasable to the informant after verification.
- The undertaking: a commitment to appear diligently at trial and cooperate with the investigation.
The conditions — Patna's standard architecture, with teeth
The order follows the Patna High Court's now-familiar conditional structure. Release operates if the petitioner is arrested or surrenders within four weeks, on a bond of Rs 10,000 with two sureties of the like amount before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhojpur at Ara. One surety must be a family member or relative, identified by Aadhaar, Voter ID, PAN or driving licence — a verification device that ties the bond to a traceable household. The petitioner must attend every trial date, with two consecutive unexplained absences exposing the bail to cancellation by the trial court itself; he must appear before the police when required during the remaining investigation; he must mark monthly attendance at the police station for six months and file the certificate before the trial court; and the usual prohibitions on witness tampering and fresh offences apply.
The medical-assistance deposit as a practice device
The structured deposit deserves attention. Courts are rightly wary of payments that look like purchasing bail; equally, genuine medical assistance to an injured complainant is a legitimate humanitarian gesture that courts may record. The device used here keeps the transaction judicial: the money moves by demand draft, sits with the court's Nazarat, and reaches the informant only after verification. Counsel proposing such a gesture should mirror this structure — through the court, documented, and expressly without prejudice — and should never frame it as consideration for consent or compromise in a non-compoundable matter.
Practice note: In multi-accused assault FIRs, the petitioner's chart of role attribution versus injury gradation is the core of the anticipatory bail brief: which accused is said to have done what, to whom, and what did the medical report say about each injury. Where the only act attributed to the applicant produced a simple injury, that chart — more than rhetoric about false implication — is what wins the order.
Frequently Asked Questions
The FIR cited Section 307 IPC — why did that not block pre-arrest bail?
Courts look past the sections quoted to the material supporting them. Where the medical report grades the injury as simple and the allegation is a single blow in a group altercation, the attempt-to-murder label carries less weight at the pre-arrest stage, though the final charge remains for the trial court.
Was the Rs 10,000 payment an admission of guilt?
No. The order records that the offer was made without admitting the allegations, as medical assistance to the injured. The amount was deposited by demand draft with the court's Nazarat, to be released to the informant after verification — a structured, transparent mechanism rather than a private payment.
What conditions accompany the bail?
Bond of Rs 10,000 with two sureties; one surety must be a family member or relative with official identity proof; regular attendance at trial, with absence on two consecutive dates inviting cancellation; appearance before police when required; monthly attendance at the police station for six months with a certificate filed before the trial court; and no tampering or fresh offences.
Under the new codes, which provision replaces Section 438 CrPC?
Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 now houses the anticipatory bail power. For FIRs registered before 1 July 2024, as here, applications continue to be processed with reference to the CrPC framework, and courts apply the same settled principles under either provision.