Allahabad High Court
Vikki Rai vs State Of U.P.And 3 Others on 13 September, 2022
Bench: Krishan Pahal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 78
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 27542 of 2022
Applicant :- Vikki Rai
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P.And 3 Others
Counsel for Applicant :- Manoj Kumar Mishra
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J.
Heard Sri Manoj Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Puskar Srivastava, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material placed on record.
Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No.75 of 2022, under Sections 363, 506, 366, 376 IPC & 3/4 POCSO Act, Police Station Bhelupur, District Varanasi, during the pendency of trial.
As per the allegations in the FIR, the applicant is stated to have enticed away the minor daughter of the informant on 15.03.2022.
Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case with a view to cause unnecessary harassment and to victimize him. The victim is a consenting party and as per the FIR, the age of the victim was 18 years. Learned counsel has further stated that initially the case was not registered under the provisions of Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012, but later on as per the school certificate, the date of birth of the victim was found to be 10.07.2004, as such she fell a bit less than 18 years of age. Learned counsel has further stated that the victim is a consenting party and has married the applicant herein. To buttress his arguments, learned counsel has placed much reliance on the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 Cr.P..C. wherein she has stated that she had gone with the applicant out of her own sweet will and had married him and she is pregnant for five months out of the said alliance. The victim and the applicant belongs to different castes. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicant to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against him. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicant have also been touched upon at length. It is further stated that there is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 17.03.2022. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail.
Learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the bail application but could not dispute the facts that there is no criminal history of the applicant and as per the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C, the victim is a consenting party, but has opposed the bail on the ground that the victim is a minor.
Learned counsel for the applicant has placed much reliance on the settled case law of the Apex Court in Sushil Kumar vs. Rakesh Kumar, (2003) 8 SCC 673, wherein it has been stated that it is more often in the Indian Society that person shows the age of their wards much below than their actual age. In the case of Brij Mohan Singh vs. Priya Brat Narain Sinha, AIR 1965 SC 282, this Court, inter alia, observed that in actual life it often happens that persons give false age of the boy at the time of his admission to a school so that later in life he would have an advantage when seeking public service for which a minimum age for eligibility is often prescribed. It is also settled by Apex Court that as per the medical records, a leverage of two years may be granted to the accused person.
Keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence on record regarding complicity of the accused, larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Dataram Singh Vs. State of U.P. and another reported in (2018) 3 SCC 22 and recent judgment dated 11.07.2022 of the Apex Court in the case of Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 825 and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. The bail application is allowed.
Let the applicant- Vikki Rai, 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 shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the date fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in Court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the Trial Court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law.
(ii) The applicant shall remain present before the Trial Court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. In case of his absence, without sufficient cause, the Trial Court may proceed against him under Section 229-A IPC.
(iii) In case, the applicant misuses the liberty of bail during trial and in order to secure his presence proclamation under Section 82 Cr.P.C., may be issued and if applicant fails to appear before the Court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the Trial Court shall initiate proceedings against him, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A IPC.
(iv) The applicant shall remain present, in person, before the Trial Court on dates fixed for (1) opening of the case, (2) framing of charge and (3) recording of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the Trial Court absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for the Trial Court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against him in accordance with law.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
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 :- 13.9.2022
Ravi Kant
