Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:74985 Court No. - 65 1. Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 14766 of 2025 Applicant :- Kuldeep Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Bipin Kumar Tripathi Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. AND 2. Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 8778 of 2025 Applicant :- Kuldeep Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Bipin Kumar Tripathi Counsel for Opposite Party :- Ashok Kumar Dwivedi,G.A. Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J. 1. List has been revised. 2. Heard Sri Bipin Kumar Tripathi, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Ashok Kumar Dwivedi, learned counsel for the informant as well as Sri Sunil Kumar, learned A.G.A. for the State and also perused the material placed on record. 3. It has been informed by learned counsel for the applicant that there are the two connected bail applications out of which Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 8778 of 2025 was filed u/s 64 of BNS and Sections 5/6 of POCSO Act but subsequently, the final report (charge-sheet) has been submitted under the altered sections 137(2), 65(1) of BNS and Sections 5L/6 of POCSO Act, hence, the instant Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 14766 of 2025 has been filed on behalf of the applicant before this Court. 4. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 236 of 2024, under Sections 137(2), 65(1) of BNS and Sections 5L/6 of POCSO Act, Police Station - Munderwa, District - Basti, during the pendency of trial. 5. As per prosecution story, the applicant is stated to have enticed away the minor daughter of the informant on 23.12.2024 at about 06:00 PM. 6. 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 about one day and there is no explanation of the said delay caused. 7. Learned counsel has also stated that the victim is the consenting party as is evident from her statement recorded u/s 183 BNSS whereby she has stated that she was a bit less than 18 years old, as such, she shall marry the applicant only after attaining the age of majority. The victim by her looks seems to be major although as per ossification test report, she was found to be 19 years old. There is no medical corroboration of the incident. 8. Learned counsel has next stated that there is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 25.12.2024 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. Per contra, learned AGA and learned counsel for the informant have vehemently opposed the bail application on the ground that the victim was 15 years 08 months and 08 days as per her transfer certificate of class IX and her date of birth is 08.04.2009, as such, the applicant is not entitled for bail as the victim is minor. However, they could not dispute the fact that the applicant has no criminal history. 10. The said document i.e. Class IX school transfer 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. 11. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, delay in lodging the FIR and also considering the statement of the victim recorded u/s 183 BNSS whereby she seems to be a consenting party, I find it a fit case to release the applicant on 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 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. 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:- 8.5.2025 Siddhant (Justice Krishan Pahal) Digitally signed by :- SIDDHANT SAHU High Court of Judicature at Allahabad