Sunil Kumar Sah Vs State of Bihar (Patna High Court)
The Patna High Court denied the application for pre-arrest bail filed by Sunil Kumar Sah, a grocery shop owner accused of selling duplicate products of reputed companies, including Dabur India Limited and Reckitt Benckiser India Limited. The Court emphasized the seriousness of the offence under the Copyright Act, 1957, and noted the petitioner’s failure to produce GST bills or tax invoices, suggesting tax evasion and trade in spurious goods.
Factual Allegations
The case, N.H. Bangra P.S. Case No. 69 of 2025, was registered under Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The allegations stemmed from a police raid conducted after a secret tip-off concerning the sale and purchase of counterfeit products.
The police recovered fake articles bearing the brand names of the original manufacturers from the petitioner’s house, where he operated a small grocery shop. The petitioner, Sunil Kumar Sah, was made an accused as the owner of the premises where the fake articles were seized.
Petitioner’s Defense and State’s Opposition
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the petitioner was merely a small grocery shop owner who had purchased the items from a local market in Tajpur and was not provided with any tax invoice for the purchased goods, which were later found to be counterfeit. The counsel also pointed out that a co-accused, Prem Sagar, facing similar allegations, had been granted pre-arrest bail by the High Court, suggesting the petitioner deserved similar treatment based on a clean antecedent.
