IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Reserved on : 04.11.2025 Pronounced on : 13.11.2025 Deepender alias Deepu ........Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAMIT KUMAR Argued by: Mr. Abhinav Sood, Advocate with Mr. Sanjay Sharma and Mr. Akshay Sharma Advocates for the petitioner.

Ms. Priyanka Sadar, Senior D.A.G., Haryana.

None for respondents No.2 & 3.

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NAMIT KUMAR, J. (ORAL)

1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular bail in case FIR No.37 dated 06.03.2023 registered under Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (Section 10 of POCSO Act and Section 506 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 were added later on) (alternative charges under Section 376 and Section

354 of IPC) at Women Police Station NIT, District Faridabad.

2. As per para 15 of the status report, filed on behalf of the respondent-State, respondents No.2 & 3 (complainant and victim) have been informed about the pendency of the present petition vide notice dated 07.09.2025. However, none has put in appearance on their behalf. 3. Brief facts of the case are that on 06.03.2023, mother of the victim along with her husband and victim came to the police station and got recorded her statement in the presence of legal aid counsel that her daughter is aged around four years. She alleged that two rooms, adjacent to her room were given on rent to Ram Avtar Meena, Hemlata Meena and their nephew Deepender alias Deepu (the present petitioner). Her daughter generally goes to the house of Ram Avtar for playing. On 25.02.2023, her husband was not at home and she was working in the kitchen and her daughter had gone to the house of Ram Avtar for playing. When she did not come after a considerable time, complainant called her. After some time, her daughter came out of house of Ram Avtar and sat in her room. After two-three hours when she went to bathroom, she was weeping due to pain. When the complainant asked her for the reason, her daughter disclosed that Deepender alias Deepu had touched her private part, removed her pant and inserted his finger into her vagina and he has committed wrong act with her. Complainant got perplexed and disclosed the entire incident to her husband. They went to the room of Deepender alias Deepu and scolded him. At that time, his maternal uncle and aunt were not present in his room. On the basis of said statement, the instant FIR was registered. Investigation was carried out. The statements of victim in the presence of legal aid counsel, before Child Welfare Committee as well as before learned Area Magistrate under Section 164 Cr.P.C. were recorded. The victim was got medico-legally examined. The accused/petitioner was arrested on 10.03.2023. After completion of necessary investigation, challan against the accused/ petitioner was presented in the Court.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. He submits that there is unreasonable and unexplained delay of more than 8 days in filing of the instant FIR as the alleged occurrence took place on 25.02.2023, whereas the FIR has been registered on 06.03.2023 at 11:23 P.M. He submits that during this period negotiations were going on between the petitioner and the complainant and her advocate, as the complainant wanted to extract money from the petitioner and total Rs.60,000/- (in three installements i.e. Rs.20,000/-, Rs.10,000/- and Rs.30,000/-) have been transferred through UPI to the counsel for the complainant. In support of this contention, learned counsel for the petitioner has annexed UPI transaction details as (Annexure P-7). He has also placed on record the pen drive and submitted that the advocate of the complainant namely Sh. Krishan Bhardwaj has visited the house of the petitioner regarding settlement. He has further made reference to