ORDER :

Is section 21 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 bailable or non-bailable? The said question arises for consideration in this application for anticipatory bail filed under section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

2. Petitioners are accused 2 to 4 in Crime No.425 of 2022 of Cheruthuruthi Police Station. Initially, there was only one accused against whom offences punishable under sections 376(2)(n) and 376AB of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, apart from sections 4, 3(b), 3(d), 6(1), 5(f), 5(l) and 5(m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short 'the POCSO Act') are alleged. Later, an additional report was filed, arraying petitioners as accused 2 to 4, after including section 21 of the POCSO Act as committed by them

3. Prosecution alleges that in the month of May 2022, the first accused took the victim, aged 9 years, to the bathroom of a Yathimkhana, and sexually assaulted the minor girl by sucking and inserting his finger into her private parts and repeated the offensive conduct on many days. Petitioners are alleged