No Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGES’S ORDERS BA1 No. 127 of 2026 Hon ’ble Alok Mah r a, J. Mr. P.S. Dhami, learned counsel for the applicant. 2. Mr. Vipul Painuly, learned A.G.A. for the State. 3. The applicant – Himanshu Kumar, who is in judicial custody in connection with FIR/ Case Crime No. 137 of 2025, under Sections 64, 115(2), 137(2), 351(3) and 352 of BNS and Section 3/ 4 of POCSO, registered at P.S.- Kotwali Pithoragarh, District Pithoragarh, has sought his release on bail. 4. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the records. 5. In this case, an FIR was lodged by the father of the victim, who was 17 years, 9 months of age. In the FIR, it is alleged that the applicant enticed her daughter to come to Rawal Village and took her in a vehicle to a house where the applicant locked the victim in a room and then forcibly made physical relations with her. The applicant was arrested on 04.12.2025. 6. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that bare perusal of the FIR reveals that applicant and victim were in love relationship. This fact is corroborated by the statement of the victim given under Section 180 and 183 of BNSS, wherein, the victim has herself stated that she was in a love relationship with the applicant for the last two years. It is further submitted that even the medical of the victim, which was conducted the next date, does not support the prosecution case and that the applicant is a young boy of 26 years of age and is languishing in jail since 12.12.2025. 7. Learned State Counsel, on the other hand, has vehemently opposed the bail application and would submit that the offence alleged is of a grave and heinous nature. 8. In rebuttal, learned counsel for the applicant would submit that the physical relationship, if any made between the applicant and the victim, was a consensual. 9. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the records. 10. It is well settled by a catena of decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as various High Courts that, in cases involving young offenders and consensual relationships between adolescents, a liberal approach may be warranted at the stage of bail, so as to prevent the regressive and adverse influences of prolonged incarceration and to further the principle of best interest of both the parties involved. 11. Having considered the submissions, under the facts and circumstances of the case and also considering the fact that the statement of the victim has been recorded so there is no chance of tampering with the evidence or influencing the witnesses, this Court is of the view that it is a case fit for bail and the applicant deserves to be enlarged on bail. 12. Accordingly, the bail application is allowed. 13. Let the applicant be released on bail on his executing a personal bond and furnishing two reliable sureties each of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the court concerned. ( Alok Mah r a J.) 13.03.2026 Ujjwal