ORDER

Heard Mr. P.K.Sahi, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant and Mr. Sadanand Paswan, learned Special Public Prosecutor.

2. This appeal has been preferred under Section 14A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for setting aside an order dated 21.01.2020 passed in Special Case No. 58 of 2019, arising out of Nawada Town P.S. Case No. 1383 of 2019, registered for the offences punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 4 of POCSO Act and Section 3(i)(xi), 3(2)v of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 passed by the learned Special Judge (SC/ST Act)-cum-Additional District & Sessions Judge 1st, Nawada, whereby the prayer of the appellant for grant of regular bail has been rejected.

3. The informant has alleged in his written report, which is the basis for registration of the First Information Report that when the informant’s six-year old daughter was on her way back home from school, the appellant, under some allurement, took her to his house and touched the private parts of her body. When she started weeping, she was allowed by the appellant to go back to her home. The victim child is said to have explained to the informant the entire story. Allegedly, the informant, thereafter, went to the appellant’s place with the victim where he found the appellant totally under the influence of alcohol and was not even in a position to talk. The informant, with the help of local people, caught hold of the appellant and handed him over to the police. The alleged occurrence is of 28.11.2019. Since then, the appellant is in custody.

4. In the present memo of appeal, a plea has been taken on behalf of the appellant that the appellant is not mentally stable and he is undergoing treatment for last 15 years under the supervision of a Psychiatrist of repute in the State of Bihar.

5. Mr. P.K. Sahi, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, has argued that the fact regarding the appellant’s mental condition was intimated by none else than by the appellant’s wife to the Superintendent of Police immediately after lodging of the First Information Report. He has referred to the contents of the First Information Report to submit that even as per the case of the prosecution, the appellant was not found mentally stable when the informant had gone to accost him about his conduct. He has also referred to certain averments made in the memo of appeal and materials collected during the course of investigation to contend that the appellant has been trapped by the informant and his family members for wrongful gain.

6. This is to be noted that in the light of the plea taken on behalf of the appellant that he was not mentally stable, the Court had directed for a medical examination of the appellant by experts in the Psychiatry Department of the Patna Medical College and Hospital, Patna (PMCH). The appellant was produced by the jail authorities, where he was examined by two Psychiatrists. A report, based on examination by the Psychiatrists, has been made available to the Court by the Superintendent, Divisional Jail, Nawada. The appellant has been found by the experts to be suffering from ‘schizophrenia’. The said report is there on record and appears to be supporting the plea taken on behalf of the appellant that his mental condition is unstable, at least, for the purpose of consideration of his case for his release on bail. Medical prescriptions of the consultant Psychiatrists have also been brought on record by way of annexure to a supplementary affidavit filed on behalf of the appellant.

7. On receipt of report of the Psychiatrists of the PMCH through the Superintendent, Divisional Jail, Nawada, this Court had wished to know from Mr. P.K. Sahi, learned Senior Counsel, as to how can it be ensured that the victim may not have any occasion to come face-to-face with the appellant since it had appeared from the First Informatio