IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 06.02.2026 DEEPAK SONI ALIAS IRFAN .....PETITIONER Vs.

STATE OF PUNJAB .....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NEERJA K. KALSON Present:- Mr. K.B. Raheja, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Gorav Kathuria, DAG, Punjab.

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NEERJA K. KALSON , J .

The present petition has been filed under Section 483 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita, 2023 seeking grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No. 94 dated 10.07.2025, under Sections 64, 115(2) BNS and Section 3(2), 4 of POCSO Act, registered at Police Station Mallanwala District Ferozepur (Annexure P-1).

2. The case set up in the FIR in question (as set out in the present petition by the petitioner) is as follows:-

“I am the resident of the above mentioned address and I am studying in 10th Class in Government School Malluwaliye. We are four brothers and sisters i.e. three sisters and one brother. The name of my elder sister is xxxxx who is 17-1/2 years and I am younger to her. About 4-5 months back I visited Catholic Church Mallanwala alongwith my Bhua where I interacted with Deepak Soni son of Hanif Soni and the above Deepak was following me while I was going to School and my father xxxxx came to know about this whereupon Deepak Soni above mentioned was made to understand several times by him that he should not talk with me but he did not agree. On 26.5.2025 at about 3-4 P.M when I was present in my house and my parents were not present in the house, a telephonic call was received by me from Deepak Soni who called me on the Road and he by inciting me to marry with me he took me to Amritsar to some hotel on his Motorcycle where he committed rape with me without my consent and he kept me two days in the Hotel at Amritsar the name of which I do not know and he continued to commit rape with me. Thereafter he took me to his house at Mallanwala where Deepak alias Irfan above mentioned started beating me by saying that you have come yourself with me and in this beating his mother Seema wife of Hanif Soni, Aman daughter of Hanif Soni, Resham, Raju sons of Kala, residents of Street No. 2 Mallanwala have also participated and they were also beating me and by giving beating to me they got my signatures on blank papers and my video was also made and they locked me in one room. Thereafter on 7.7.2025 I got myself freed from them and came to my house at Village Malluwaliye where I told the entire story to my parents who in order to avoid their insult in the society did not make report to the Police. Thereafter we consulted the matter with each other and decided to give information to the Police regarding this incident. Today I alongwith my father and maternal Uncle xxxxx came present in the Police Station Mallanwala and got statement recorded, which has been read and found to be correct”

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner, is a student aged about 20 years, has been in custody since 25.08.2025 i.e. for a period 05 months and 08 days. There are a total of 14 prosecution witnesses to be examined, the trial is yet to conclude and its completion is likely to take considerable time. Learned counsel further contended that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. Attention was drawn to the unexplained delay of 45 days in the registration of the FIR, for which no cogent explanation has been provided as to why no complaint was lodged at an earlier point of time by the parents or relatives of the prosecutrix. In truth, the victim voluntarily accompanied and married the petitioner/accused in the presence of his relatives, as evidenced by annexed photographs showing her contentment, and her declaration dated 05.07.2025 affirming the same. The couple was residing happily together when the victim’s father forcibly took her away and registered a false FIR. Post investigation, challan has been filed. However, the conclusion of trial will take a long time. There is, t