Allahabad High Court
Mr. X Thru. His Father Shri Ram Dhar ... vs State Of U.P Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. ... on 2 January, 2024
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC-LKO:63
Court No. - 27
Case :- CRIMINAL REVISION No. - 1257 of 2023
Revisionist :- Mr. X Thru. His Father Shri Ram Dhar Raidas
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko. And 3 Others
Counsel for Revisionist :- Manoj Kumar Singh,Kunwar Prithvi Tomar
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Subhash Vidyarthi,J.
1. Heard Sri Ashish Kumar Dubey holding brief of Sri Manoj Kumar Singh, the learned counsel for the revisionist and Sri Arvind Kumar Pandey, the learned AGA for the State.
2. By means of this revision filed under Section 102 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the revisionist has assailed the validity of order dated 04.07.2023 passed by the Juvenile Justice Board, Faizabad/ Ayodhya rejecting his bail application in Case Crime No. 316 of 2022, under Sections 376D IPC and 3/4 POCSO Act, Police Station Cantt., District Faizabad/ Ayodhya and the judgment and order dated 26.09.2023 passed by the Juvenile Court, Faizabad/ Ayodhya, dismissing Criminal Appeal No. 38 of 2023 filed by the revisionist.
3. Briefly stated, facts of the case are that on 29.06.2022, an FIR was lodged in Police Station Hargaon, District Sitapur against the applicant and one Gopal Passi, alleging that the accused persons had raped the informant's daughter in the night of 29.05.2022 while the victim's younger brother was also sleeping in the same room and after committing the offence, they ran away. The victim told about the incident to the informant's son thereafter in the statement of the victim recorded under Sections 161 Cr.P.C., she stated that the accused persons had raped her in the night on 29.05.2022 while her brother was also sleeping in the same room and after committing the offence, both the accused persons laid down towards feet of her mother. The victim told her mother about the incident and her mother slapped the accused persons. The victim's mother told about the incident to the contractor, who had employed the victim's mother and the accused persons as labour and he also slapped them and turned them away. When the victim's mother came to know that the accused persons had filed a report against them, she also lodged an FIR. The victim declined to undergo medico legal examination. In the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C., she alleged that she had raised hue and cry at the time of commission of offence whereupon her mother and brother came there.
4. The age of the victim has been opined to be between 16 and 17 years during her medico legal examination and the revisionist is also aged about 17 years and he has no criminal history.
5. Notice of the revision was issued to the opposite party no. 2 and it has been reported that the informant and the victim are not residing at their place of residence and they are living somewhere at Ghaziabad for doing labour work and they are not disclosing their address. However, the notice has been served in pdf format through WhatsApp, which has been seen by the informant.
6. What prima facie appears from the material available before the Court at this stage is that the incident took place on 29.05.2022 and the FIR has been lodged on 29.06.2022 in Sitapur, which has subsequently been transferred to Police Station Cantt., District Ayodhya, where the FIR has been registered at Case Crime No. 316 of 2022 on 13.09.2022.In the FIR it was stated that the accused persons raped the victim in a room in presence of her younger brother and they ran away whereas in the statement of the victim recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C., she stated that after committing the offence, the accused persons laid down in the same room near her mother and when she told about the incident to her mother, she slapped the accused persons and the contractor turn them away in the morning.
7. The victim had declined to undergo medico legal examination. The statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C. is at variance with the earlier version of the incident as in this statement, she stated that she had raised hue and cry and her mother and brother had come to the place of occurrence. The reason for lodging the FIR, as stated by the victim and the informant, is that the accused persons had lodged an FIR against them whereas no such FIR has been lodged by the accused persons. The applicant is languishing in custody since 15.09.2022 and the learned counsel for the revisionist states that the trial has not yet commenced.
8. In view of the aforesaid facts, I am of the considered view that the revision deserves to be allowed.
9. The revision is allowed. The order dated 04.07.2023 passed by the Juvenile Justice Board, Faizabad/ Ayodhya rejecting his bail application in Case Crime No. 316 of 2022, under Sections 376D IPC and 3/4 POCSO Act, Police Station Cantt., District Faizabad/ Ayodhya and the judgment and order dated 26.09.2023 passed by the Juvenile Court, Faizabad/ Ayodhya, dismissing Criminal Appeal No. 38 of 2023 filed by the revisionist, are set aside.
10. Let the revisionist-Mr. X Thru. His Father Shri Ram Dhar Raidas be released on bail in the aforesaid case upon his guardian furnishing a personal bond with two solvent sureties of his relatives, each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Juvenile Justice Board, Faizabad/Ayodhya subject to the following conditions:-
(i) the natural guardian will furnish an undertaking that upon release on bail the juvenile will not be permitted to come into contact or association with any known criminal or allowed to be exposed to any moral, physical or psychological danger and further that the guardian will ensure that the juvenile will not indulge in any criminal activity;
(ii) natural guardian will further furnish an undertaking to the effect that the juvenile will pursue his study at the appropriate level which he would be encouraged to do.
(iii) juvenile accompanied by his natural guardian, will report to the Probation Officer on the first working day of every calendar month. The D.P.O. shall maintain a diary recording their attendance.
(iv) The District Probation Officer will keep strict vigil on the activities of the juvenile and regularly draw up his social investigation report that would be submitted to the Juvenile Justice Board, Faizabad/ Ayodhya.
11. It is made clear that the observations made in this order are limited to the purpose of determination of this bail application and will in no way be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. The trial court/J.J.Board shall be absolutely free to arrive at its independent conclusions on the basis of evidence led, uninfluenced by any finding or observation whatsoever in this order.
Order Date :- 2.1.2024
Pradeep/-
