Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:55385 Court No. - 65 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 47160 of 2024 Applicant :- Ashish Sharma Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Ashok Kumar Singh,Pratibha Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J. 1. List has been revised. 2. Heard Ms. Pratibha Singh, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Saurabh Pandey, learned counsel for the informant as well as Sri R.P. Patel, learned State Law Officer and also perused the material placed on record. 3. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 455 of 2024, under Sections 137(2), 64, 61(2), 351(3) of BNS and Sections 3/4 & 5/6 of POCSO Act, Police Station - Line Bazar, District - Jaunpur, during the pendency of trial. 4. As per prosecution story, the applicant is stated to have left the house of the applicant in the night of 5/6.09.2024 at about 01:00 AM. 5. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has nothing to do with the said offence as alleged in the FIR. The FIR is delayed by about 14 hours and there is no explanation of the said delay caused. 6. Learned counsel has also stated that the time of leaving the house by the victim i.e. at about 01:00 AM indicates her consent. It is argued that the victim has traveled to several places including Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir and has levelled allegations against several persons of having raped her in her statement recorded u/s 183 BNSS. There is no medical corroboration of the incident. The victim has herself returned to her house. 7. Learned counsel has further stated that the victim by her looks seems to be major and as per ossification test report, her age has come out to be 18 years. There is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 13.11.2024 and he is ready to cooperate with trial. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail. 8. Per contra, learned State Law Officer and learned counsel for the informant have vehemently opposed the bail application on the ground that the victim has categorically levelled the allegations against the applicant and as per high school certificate, her date of birth is 1.1.2009, as such, she was less than 16 years old at the time of incident. It is also argued that as per provisions of Section 94 of J.J. Act, high school certificate shall prevail all other documents, as such, the applicant is not entitled for bail as the victim was minor. 9. In rebuttal, learned counsel for the applicant has stated that the victim has come out to be 18 years as per ossification test report which indicates that her age has been suppressed. To buttress his argument, learned counsel has stated that with respect to the age of the victim, a leverage of two years may be granted to the applicant on the upper side in view of the settled law of the Supreme Court passed in Sushil Kumar vs. Rakesh Kumar, (2003) 8 SCC 673, wherein it has been stated that it is more often in the Indian Society that person shows the age of their wards much below than their actual age. 10. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, the evidence on record, and taking into consideration the settled law of the Supreme Court passed in Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and Ors., 2022 INSC 690 and Manish Sisodia vs. Directorate of Enforcement, 2024 INSC 595 and the fact that there is no medical corroboration of the incident and the victim was major as per ossification test report, I find it a fit case to release the applicant on bail. The bail application is allowed. 11. Let the applicant- Ashish Sharma, who is involved in aforementioned case crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions. Further, before issuing the release order, the sureties be verified. i) The applicant will not tamper with the evidence during trial. ii) The applicant will not pressurise/intimidate with the prosecution witnesses. iii) The applicant will appear before the trial court on the date fixed. 12. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail. 13. It is made clear that observations made in granting bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses. Order Date:- 16.4.2025 Siddhant (Justice Krishan Pahal) Digitally signed by :- SIDDHANT SAHU High Court of Judicature at Allahabad