CHAMAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of instant bail petition filed under Section 439 of Cr.PC, a prayer has been made on behalf of the bail petitioner, who is behind bars, for grant of regular bail in connection with FIR No. 133/17 dated 7.12.2017, under Section 376 of IPC and Sections 6 & 17 of the POCSO Act, registered at Tissa, District Chamba, H.P.

(2.) Sequel to order dated 5.3.2018, ASI Satpal, PS Tissa, District Chamba, HP, has come present in Court alongwith the record of the case. Mr. Dinesh Thakur, learned Additional Advocate General, has also placed on record status report prepared on the basis of the investigation carried out by the investigating agency.

(3.) Perusal of the record/status report suggests that FIR, detailed hereinabove, was lodged at the behest of the complainant namely Ramdei, who alleged that her minor daughter was enticed and taken away in her absence by the accused namely Sanjeev Kumar and his father i.e. present bail petitioner on 25.9.2017. On 26.9.2017, complainant contacted her daughter over telephone, who disclosed that she has been brought to village Kanori by the accused Sanjeev Kumar and his father Chaman Singh (bail petitioner) . Since families of the complainant and accused were known to each other and they had also agreed for marriage of daughter of the complainant with accused Sanjeev Kumar, complainant thought it proper, not to register any complaint with the police station against the aforesaid illegal act of Sanjeev Kumar and Chaman Singh, but allegedly after one and half month of aforesaid incident, mother of the petitioner, who is also an accused in the case, along with co-accused Sanjeev Kumar, visited the house of the complainant alongwith daughter of the complainant. Mother of the accused namely Sanjeev Kumar after leaving daughter of the complainant at her house, came back to her village. Since no one from the family of the bail petitioner and other accused, came back to take the daughter of the complainant back, complainant made various efforts to contact the bail petitioner as well as other accused, but they all refused to take daughter of the complainant to their house. In the aforesaid background, case came to be registered against the bail petitioner, his wife Rattni Devi and son Sanjeev Kumar.