Sherdeen vs State Of Uttarakhand

Alok Kumar Verma, J

This Criminal Appeal has been filed by the appellant-Sherdeen against the judgment dated 04.10.2021, passed by F.T.S.C./Additional Sessions Judge, Roorkee, District Haridwar in Special Sessions Trial No.41 of 2018, “State vs. Sherdeen”, whereby the appellant has been convicted for the offence under Section 354A IPC and Section 9/10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as, “the Act, 2012”) and in terms  of Section 42  of  the  Act, 2012, the appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of five years along with a fine of Rs.10,000/- for the offence under Section 9/10 of the Act, 2012.

Heard Mr. Parikshit Saini, the learned counsel holding brief of Mr. Mohd. Safdar, the learned counsel for the appellant and Mr. T.C. Agarwal, the learned Deputy Advocate General assisted by Mr. Pramod Tiwari, the learned Brief Holder for the State, on the bail application.

The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that there are substantial doubts about the conviction; the appellant is a permanent resident of District Haridwar; he has no criminal history; he was on bail during the trial and the conditions of the bail were neither misused nor violated by him and he is in custody since 04.10.2021.

The learned counsel for the State opposed the bail application. However, he fairly conceded that the appellant has no criminal history; he was on bail during the trial and the conditions of the bail were not misused by him.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is inclined to grant bail to the appellant-Sherdeen, provided he submits a personal bond and two reliable sureties of the same amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned.