HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 9694 of 2025 Court No. - 12 HON'BLE PANKAJ BHATIA, J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned AGA and perused the record. 2. The applicant seeks enlargement on bail in FIR No.0329 of 2024, under Section 302, 201, 376AB of IPC & Section 5M/6 of POCSO Act, P.S. Tadiyaon, District Hardoi. 3. The FIR in question was lodged alleging that daughter of the informant aged about 8 years had left home and subsequently her body was found in a sugarcane field. It was stated that the accused named in the FIR i.e. Raghvendra had committed the offence in question as a dispute had occurred in between the family of the informant and the said accused named in the FIR. The applicant was not named in the FIR. The postmortem report on record indicates the cause of death as ante mortem smothering. The name of the applicant surfaced in the statement of one Ram Sagar Shukla who had stated that the applicant had come alongwith one Raghvendra and had confessed of having committed the offence in question in the state of intoxication. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant draws my attention to the statement of Rakesh Yadav recorded during trial who has been declared hostile and did not support any such statement. Statement of Ram Sagar Shukla has also been recorded. The applicant has no criminal antecedent except for Versus Counsel for Applicant(s) : Ashok Kumar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : G.A. Chhunnu .....Applicant(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. U.P. Lko. And 3 Others .....Opposite Party(s) an offence under Section 323, 504, 506 IPC. 5. Learned AGA has opposed the bail application. 6. Considering the fact that one of the witnesses has turned hostile and the statement of such witness has already been recorded and the applicant has no substantial criminal antecedents, the applicant who is in custody since 23.06.2024, is entitled to be enlarged on bail. In view thereof, the application is allowed. 7. Let the applicant Chhunnu be released on bail in aforesaid FIR number on his furnishing a personal bond with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of court concerned with the following conditions: (a) The applicant shall execute a bond to undertake to attend the hearings; (b) The applicant shall not commit any offence similar to the offence of which he is accused or suspected of the commission; and (c) The applicant 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. October 13, 2025 nishant BAIL No. 9694 of 2025 2 (Pankaj Bhatia,J.) Digitally signed by :- NISHANT MOHAN High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench