HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 26068 of 2025 Court No. - 65 (Sl. No. 123 out of 259) HON'BLE KRISHAN PAHAL, J. 1. List has been revised. As informed by learned State Law Officer, notice to the informant has been served on 12.08.2025 but none is present on behalf of the informant. 2. Heard Sri Shri Prakash Dwivedi, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Jai Kishan Chaurasia, learned State Law Officer and also perused the material placed on record. 3. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 22 of 2025, under Sections 137(2), 65(1) of BNS, Sections 3/4(2) of POCSO Act and Section 3(2)5 of SC/ST Act, Police Station - Jigna, District - Mirzapur, during the pendency of trial. 4. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, this Court finds that the statement of the victim recorded u/s 183 BNSS prima facie indicates her consent as she had accompanied the applicant to Surat, Gujarat without raising any alarm whatsoever. As per the Class 8 school certificate, the date of birth of the victim is 10.09.2010 however, the said document cannot be relied upon in view of the provisions of Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act. There is no other valid document on record to establish that the victim was a minor at the relevant time. Moreover, in light of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in P. Yuvaprakash vs. State Rep. by Inspector of Police (AIR 2023 Versus Counsel for Applicant(s) : Jai Prakash Prasad, Mahendra Kumar Sharma, Saroj Giri, Shri Prakash Dwivedi Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : G.A., Laxmi Kant Shukla Rinku .....Applicant(s) State Of U.P. And 3 Others .....Opposite Party(s) SC 3525), only a matriculation or equivalent certificate, or a certificate issued by a municipal authority or Panchayat, can be relied upon for determination of age in the absence of birth records. Furthermore, there is no medical evidence on record to corroborate the alleged incident. 5. Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, prima facie the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. Accordingly, the bail application is allowed. 6. Let the applicant- Rinku, be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties to the satisfaction of the court concerned, subject to verification of sureties, with the conditions that he shall not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses and shall appear before the trial court as required. 7. Breach of any condition shall entail cancellation of bail. The observations herein shall not affect the trial on merits. April 23, 2026 Siddhant BAIL No. 26068 of 2025 2 (Krishan Pahal,J.) Digitally signed by :- SIDDHANT SAHU High Court of Judicature at Allahabad