Justice Arun Kumar Jha all set hear Rit Lal Yadav's application seeking interim bail to exercise his fundamental right to seek votes

In Rit Lal Yadav @ Rit Lal Rai vs. The State of Bihar through the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar & Ors. (2025), Justice Arun Kumar Jha of Patna High Court is all set to hear the application for provisional bail on October 30, 2025 amidst the Bihar assembly election process. 

Rit Lal Yadav, son of Ramashish Ray has sought provisional/interim bail from October 30, 2025 to November 15, 2025 to enable him to seek votes by participating in the election campaign and to remain present during polling and counting. the petitioner had prayed for of provisional bail/custody parole in three cases-1. Khagaul P.S. Case No. 129 of 2025, 2. Khagaul P.S. Case No. 171 of 2025, and 3. Khagaul P.S. Case No. 206 of 2025 which are pending before the ACJM-1 cum Special Judge MP/MLA, Patna. 

The fact is that Rit Lal Yadav is in custody because of two cases--1. Khagaul P.S. Case No. 171 of 2025, in which a bail petition is pending before the trial court and 2. Khagaul P.S. Case No. 129 of 2025, in which Cr. Misc. No. 61197 of 2025 for which bail is pending before the High Court. The disposal of these bail petitions is likely to take considerable time, and it is quite unlikely that it will e taken up for consideration before November 6, 2025, i.e., the date fixed for polling in the Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections-2025. 

By order dated October 10, 2025, the District & Additional Sessions Judge III-cum-Special Court of MP/MLAs, Patna, had directed that Rit Lal Yadav be produced from Bhagalpur Central Jail before the Returning Officer-cum-Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Danapur, on October 16, 2025, for the purpose of filing his nomination papers to contest the Bihar Legislative Assembly Election-2025, Danapur Assembly Segment No. 186.

Rit Lal Yadav was produced before the Returning Officer on October 16, 2025, where his nomination papers were accepted. After that he was returned to Bhagalpur Central Jail by the police escort.

Notably, three criminal cases--Khagaul P.S. Case Nos. 129, 171, and 206 of 2025 were lodged against him in April 2025, after the election was announced by the Election Commission of India. It is apparent that these cases were registered with an ulterior motive to prevent him from seeking votes through campaigning. 

Earlier, upon hearing, he passed a 2-page long order dated October 17, 2025.  It reads: ''It appears from the pleadings that the criminal antecedents of the petitioner have been mentioned in general and vague terms without providing any specific details.'' 

The order recorded the submission of the Advocate General who submitted that ''the present writ petition is not maintainable and for the relief claimed in the petition, the petitioner should have approached the trial court seeking provisional/regular bail.'' He also submitted that ''the criminal antecedents of the petitioner have not been disclosed and the authorities/rulings relied on by the learned senior counsel for the petitioner do not support the case of the petitioner.'' The fact is that Rit Lal Yadav, the petitioner has a total of 39 criminal antecedents but in most of the cases he has been acquitted. He has not been convicted in any case. 

In his 12-page long affidavit dated October 16, 2025, Rit Lal Rai has submitted to the Election Commission of India, he has declared that there are 11 cases which are pending against him. At page no. 4, of the affidavit there is a column for declaration of all the pending cases. In front of this column it is stated that the details of the pending cases are-अलग से पृथक पृष्ठ पर समलग्न हैं (enclosed separately on a separate page) besides these 12 pages.   

Justice Jha directed the State/respondents to file their counter affidavit on or before October 30, 2025. At the request of senior counsel for the petitioner, case was listed for hearing on October 30, 2025. The case was filed in the High Court on October 15, 2025 and registered on October 16, 2025. 

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