Bail may be granted when the investigation is complete, the accused is no longer required for interrogation, and there is conflicting evidence regarding the victim's age and witness testimonies, ensuring the accused's right to liberty during a prolonged trial.

1. The present bail application under Section 483 of BNSS is filed by the applicant-accused Pawan Vishnoi S/o Indraj Vishnoi seeking bail in respect of a criminal case registered as FIR No.190/2025 dated 31.07.2025 registered at P.S. Loonkarnsar, District - Bikaner, for the offence under Sections 137(2), 127(2), 64(2)(m), 115(2) of BNS, Sections 3/4 , 5L/6 of POCSO Act and Sections 3(1)(w)(i), 3(2)(va) and 3(2)(v) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

2. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the matter and the investigation against him is complete and he is no more required in investigation. He further submits that there are no chance of fleeing of applicant accused from the jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court. He also submits that the applicant undertakes not to repeat offence and cooperate with trial, which will take time.

3. Learned counsel for applicant submits that the statement of victim has been recorded as PW-1 and during investigation, statement under Sections 180 and 183 of BNS were recorded. He further recorded the improvement made by the victim and submitted that the statement of victim is unreliable and untrustworthy. He further submitted that the parents of victim PW-2 (mother of victim) and PW-3 (father of victim) have turned hostile and not supported the case of victim. He also referred the evidence of parents and submitted that age of victim was more than 18 years on date of incident, as the victim is illiterate girl and not having birth record. He further referred the medical and further submitted that no injuries were found on body of victim.

4. Learned Public Prosecutor has vehemently opposed the bail application and submitted that the allegations are grave and serious in nature.

5. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner-accused and learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the material placed on record by both the parties.

6. On 31.07.2025, a report has been lodged by PW-2 (mother of victim) about incident of rape by applicant-accused on 30.07.2025. Police Station Loonkaransar, has registered FIR No.190/2025 on 31.07.2025 and investigated the matter. During investigation, the statement of victim under Section 180 and 183 of BNSS were recorded. After arrest of applicant-accused on 06.08.2025, a charge-sheet is filed. The material on record indicate that three witnesses were examined, which includes PW-1 (victim). We have considered statement of victim and her parents as PW-1 to PW-3. The parents of victim have deposed that the victim is an adult female, whereas victim has narrated her age as 16 years. There is no record to show the date of birth of victim. The police has adopted ossification test as prescribed under Section 94 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 in absence of school record or the birth certificate. As per radiology test report, the age of victim is 16.5 years to 18 years as adjudged by the doctors. We have gone through the statement recorded on three occasions of victim and also the statement of parents.

7. Upon hearing the arguments and perusing the record, we have found that the applicant-accused is no more required in the investigation and he is in custody for quite some time. The further proceedings will take its own time, therefore, looking to entirety of facts and circumstances of the case and without expressing any opinion on merits of the case, the Court deems it appropriate to grant bail to the applicant-accused.

8. Thus, the instant bail application filed on behalf of a