ORDER

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 sole accused in Crime No.135/2026 of Mararikulam Police Station, Alappuzha District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 8 r/w 7 and 10 r/w 9(f)(l) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short, the PoCSO Act).

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the applicant, who is the biology teacher of the victim boy, aged 14 years, on several occasions from July 2025 while the boy was attending his class in the B division of class VIII, grabbed on the chest and stomach of the boy by inserting his hands inside the victim’s shirt with sexual intent. The same was repeated on 17- 03-2026 while the victim was attending his annual examinations, causing agony and discomfort to the victim and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.P.Vijaya Bhanu, the learned Senior Counsel for the applicant and Smt. Sreeja V., the learned Senior Publi