Gujarat HC Orders Car Seized In Liquor Case Released On Surety, Applying SC Ruling That Prohibition Act Is Not An Absolute Bar to Interim Custody

Police intercepted an Omni car, registration No. GJ-27-C-4558, after receiving information that it was carrying liquor.

A search allegedly found the driver carrying liquor without a pass or permit, and an FIR was registered at Rajgadh Police Station under the Gujarat Prohibition Act.

The petitioner sought release of the vehicle; during the hearing, he placed the original NOC on record.

The Court invoked its constitutional jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 and its powers under Section 497 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Relying on Sunderbhai Ambalal Desai v. State of Gujarat, AIR 2003 SC 638, it noted that seized vehicles should not be left to deteriorate and may be released on appropriate bonds, guarantees, and security.

As to the interaction between Section 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (corresponding to Section 497 of the BNSS) and Section 98 of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949, the Court applied the Supreme Court’s holding in M/s ABC Express v. State of Gujarat, 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 885, that Section 98(2) is not an absolute bar to interim release and that the court may order proper custody of a seized vehicle pending trial.

It also relied on Musa Khan Jat v. State of Gujarat, SCR.A/7190/2017, in which the Gujarat High Court released a vehicle in an analogous case.

The alleged use of the car to transport liquor brought the vehicle within the prohibition proceedings, but the confiscation provisions did not, under M/s ABC Express, prevent interim release.

The Court also considered the risk of a seized vehicle deteriorating in police custody, as addressed in Sunderbhai Ambalal Desai.

It therefore ordered release subject to a solvent surety equal to the vehicle’s price as stated in the FIR, an undertaking not to transfer it pending trial, and an obligation to produce it when directed.

Before release, police were directed to photograph the vehicle from all sides at the petitioner’s expense and prepare a panchanama, with both to form part of the charge-sheet papers.

The order was also to be sent to the concerned RTO to record the restraint on transfer pending trial, subject to any later order of the Trial Court permitting transfer.

Rule was made absolute.