O R D E R

This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. The applicant is the accused in Crime No.599/2025 of Kambalakkad Police Station, Wayanad District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 7 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act , 2012 read with Section 75 (1)(i) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that on

06.10.2025 at 06:30 p.m., while the victim, aged 17 years, was travelling in a bus, the applicant who was also travelling in the very same bus, touched on her buttocks with sexual intent and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Smt. Celine Joseph, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri. K.A.Noushad, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

5. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the above crime. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to bail. The learned Senior Public Prosecutor, on the other hand, su