Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:82630 Court No. - 65 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 4878 of 2025 Applicant :- Kuldeep Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Raghawendra Kumar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- Arvind Kumar Yadav,G.A. Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J. 1. List has been revised. 2. Rejoinder affidavit filed today is taken on record. 3. Heard Sri Raghawendra Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Arvind Kumar Yadav, learned counsel for the informant, Sri Amit Kumar, learned State Law Officer for the State and perused the material placed on record. 4. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No.11 of 2025, under Sections 137(2), 352, 126(2), 351(3), 115(2), 70(2) B.N.S., 2023 and Section 5G/6 POCSO Act, Police Station Narahi, District Ballia, during the pendency of trial. 5. As per prosecution story, the FIR was instituted by the informant stating that his daughter was enticed away by Manjeet Yadav and her modesty was outraged by him alongwith two other named accused persons, namely, Golu Yadav and Sintu. 6. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the the FIR is delayed by about ten hours and there is no explanation of the said delay caused. The victim was retrieved and then only the FIR was instituted that too regarding outraging the modesty only. There is no allegation of rape in it. 7. Learned counsel for the applicant has further argued that the applicant is not named in the FIR and has been falsely implicated in the present case. His name has come up for the first time in the statement of the victim recorded under Section 183 B.N.S.S. that too after legal consultation and he has been assigned the role of having stood guard to the said act of gang-rape being committed by the co-accused persons, as such, the case of the applicant is at a different footing to the named accused persons. 8. Learned counsel for the applicant has also argued that there is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 13.01.2025 and he is ready to cooperate with trial. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail. 9. Learned counsel for the informant and learned A.G.A. have vehemently opposed the bail application on the ground that the victim was minor and her date of birth was 21.10.2011 as per school certificate of class-VIIIth, as such, the applicant is not entitled for bail. 10. In the case of P. Yuvaprakash vs State Rep. by Inspector of Police, AIR 2023 SC 3525, the Supreme Court has observed that in the absence of records relating to the birth of the victim, no other documents except the Matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination board or certificate by a corporation, municipal authority or a Panchayat can be relied upon to ascertain the age of the victim. 11. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, the evidence on record, taking into consideration the delay in institution of the FIR and the applicant being not named in the FIR, and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. The bail application is allowed. 12. Let the applicant- Kuldeep, 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 shall not tamper with evidence during trial. (ii) The applicant shall not pressurise/intimidate with the prosecution witnesses. (iii) The applicant shall appear before the trial court on the date fixed. 13. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail. 14. 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 :- 17.5.2025 (Ravi Kant) (Justice Krishan Pahal) Digitally signed by :- RAVI KANT High Court of Judicature at Allahabad