SOHANLAL SINGROUL Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant has preferred this application under Sec. 482 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of Anticipatory Bail, apprehending his arrest in connection with Crime No. 235/2024, registered at Police Station - Pathariya, District - Mungeli (C.G.) for the alleged commission of offence punishable under Ss. 75(1)(i) and 75(1)(ii) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Sec. 7 and 8 of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

(2.) The prosecution's story is based on a written report lodged at P.S. Pathiariya on October 25, 2024. The report states that the complainant's 14-year-old daughter, a Class 8 student at Government Middle School, informed him that the applicant had been touching her inappropriately and asking her to allow him to commit a bad act. She also revealed that the applicant had made similar proposals to her friends, who are students at the same school. Based on this complaint, the police at Police Station Pathariya registered an FIR in Crime No. 235/2024 under Ss. 75(1)(i) and 75(1)(ii) of the B.N.S., 2023 and Ss. 7 and 8 of the POCSO Act.

(3.) Learned counsel for the applicant, after arguing at length, submits that the present anticipatory bail application of the applicant be dismissed as not pressed, with the liberty granted to the applicant to take course to law under Sec. 483 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.