HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 553 of 2025 Court No. - 28 HON'BLE PRAMOD KUMAR SRIVASTAVA, J. Counter affidavit filed by learned AGA for the State is taken on record. Vide order dated 17.02.2025, notice was issued to the private opposite party no. 2 and as per office report, the notice upon him has been served personally. Today when the case is taken up, neither counsel on behalf of opposite party no. 2 is present nor any counter on his behalf has been filed, therefore, this Court has no option but to proceed in the matter to decide the instant appeal. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned AGA for the State and perused the record. The present criminal appeal under Section 14-A (2) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been preferred against the impugned order dated 06.12.2024 passed by Special Judge, SC/ST Act, court no. 2, Unnao in Case Crime No. 140 of 2024, under Sections 328, 363, 366, 376 IPC and Section 3(2)5 of SC/ST Act, Police Station Safipur, District Unnao, whereby the bail application of the appellant has been rejected. Versus Counsel for Appellant(s) : Sagar Singh, Shri Ram Maurya Counsel for Respondent(s) : G.A. Bhanu Pratap Yadav .....Appellant(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. And Another .....Respondent(s) Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the appellant has falsely been implicated in the present case. He further submits that the victim left the parental house voluntarily. He next submits that the victim was major at the time of incident, as her date of birth is 05.08.2005. He next submits that as per the statement of the prosecutrix, she is a consenting party. He added that appellant is languishing in jail since 16.10.2024 having no criminal history to his credit. He added that in case the appellant is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and he shall fully cooperate with the trial. He has further submitted that there is no possibility of the appellant to intimidate or pressurize the witnesses or any other persons acquainted with the facts of the present case. For the aforesaid reasons, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the instant criminal appeal deserves to be allowed and the impugned order may be set aside and consequently, the appellant deserves to be enlarged on bail. Per contra, learned AGA has opposed the prayer by submitting that the appellant took away the informant's daughter and committed rape on her. He further submits that in this regard the victim has given statements before the Investigating Officer and the Magistrate, therefore, the appellant is not entitled to be enlarged on bail and the instant criminal appeal deserves to be dismissed. However, he has been unable to dispute the other factual submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant. Considering the submissions of learned counsel for the parties and after perusal of material available on record, including the allegations made in the FIR, it transpires that the victim was major at the time of incident, as is averred in the counter affidavit; as per the statement of victim, she appears to be a consenting party; in the medical report, hymen of the victim was found old, torn and healed; the appellant is languishing in jail since 16.10.2024 having no criminal history to his credit and he has undertaken that in case he is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and CRLA No. 553 of 2025 2 will cooperate with the trial. Without expressing any opinion on merit, this Court is of the view that the learned court below has failed to appreciate the material available on record, thus, the order passed by the court below is liable to be set aside. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed. Consequently, the impugned order dated 06.12.2024 passed by Special Judge, SC/ST Act, court no. 2, Unnao in Case Crime No. 140 of 2024, under Sections 328, 363, 366, 376 IPC and Section 3(2)5 of SC/ST Act, Police Station Safipur, District Unnao, is hereby set aside. Let the appellant-Bhanu Pratap Yadav be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on his furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties relating to his family members to the satisfaction of the court concerned, subject to following additional conditions- (i) The appellant shall cooperate with the prosecution during trial. (ii) The appellant shall not tamper with the evidence during trial (iii) The appellant shall not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witness(s). (iv) The appellant shall not commit an offence. (v) The appellant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. (vi) The appellant shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through counsel. (vii) The appellant shall not seek any adjournment on the dates fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in court. (viii) The appellant shall remain present, in person, before the trial court on the dates fixed for recording of statement under Section CRLA No. 553 of 2025 3 313 Cr.PC. In case of default of above conditions, it shall be open for the trial court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law As this order relates to enlargement of the appellant on bail, it is clarified that observation(s) made in this order shall have no bearing on the merits of the case and the trial court shall not be influenced by any observation(s) made in this order. October 28, 2025 kkv/ CRLA No. 553 of 2025 4 (Pramod Kumar Srivastava,J.) Digitally signed by :- KRISHAN KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench