Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:82395 Court No. - 65 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 14568 of 2025 Applicant :- Manish Nishad Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Mahesh Kumar Sahani,Narendra Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. 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 22.04.2025 but none is present on behalf of the informant. 2. Heard Sri Narendra Singh, learned counsel for the applicant and Ms. Ifrah Islam, learned State Law Officer and also perused the material placed on record. 3. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 41 of 2024, under Sections 363 & 376 of IPC and Sections 3/4 of POCSO Act, Police Station - Jhangaha, District - Gorakhpur, during the pendency of trial. 4. As per prosecution story, the applicant is stated to have enticed away the minor daughter of the informant on 19.01.2024 at about 09:30 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 more than two days and there is no explanation of the said delay caused. 6. Learned counsel has also stated that the victim is the consenting party as is evident from her statement recorded u/s 164 Cr.P.C.. The victim was found pregnant at the time of her medical examination but the said pregnancy has been terminated at the behest of her parents. The victim by her looks seems to be major although as per her school certificate of class IX, her age has come out to be 16 years. The said certificate is not admissible in light of Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act. 7. Learned counsel has next stated that there is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 17.01.2025 and he is ready to cooperate with trial. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail. 8. Per contra, learned State Law Officer has vehemently opposed the bail application but unable to dispute the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the applicant and also the fact that the applicant has no criminal history. 9. The said document i.e. Class 9 school certificate of the victim cannot be taken into consideration in view of the judgement of Supreme Court passed in P. Yuvaprakash vs State Rep. by Inspector of Police, AIR 2023 SC 3525, whereby it 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. 10. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, delay in lodging the FIR and also the statement of the victim recorded u/s 164 Cr.P.C., I find it a fit case to release the applicant on bail. The bail application is allowed. 11. Let the applicant- Manish Nishad, 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:- 17.5.2025 Siddhant (Justice Krishan Pahal) Digitally signed by :- SIDDHANT SAHU High Court of Judicature at Allahabad