After 7 Months In Observation Home, Chhattisgarh HC Grants Bail To Juvenile In POCSO Case, Citing Good Conduct

The juvenile applicant, then over 17, was accused of taking a minor victim, also over 17, to various places and sexually exploiting her. An FIR was registered under Sections 137(2), 62(2)(d), 87 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act; a charge sheet was filed before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

The JJB rejected his bail application under Section 12 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act), and the appellate court upheld that decision.

The juvenile challenged both orders in revision under Section 102 of the JJ Act.

Section 12 of the JJ Act governs bail for a child alleged to be in conflict with law; bail may be refused on the statutory grounds that release is likely to bring the child into association with a known criminal, expose the child to moral, physical or psychological danger, or defeat the ends of justice.

Section 102 of the JJ Act provides the basis for the High Court’s revision against the orders under challenge.

The Court considered that the juvenile had been in the observation home since 1 April 2026, that the social status report recorded this as his first conflict with law and described his conduct in the observation home as good, and that the medical report was also considered.

The State acknowledged that the social status report was not negative.

The Court found that the prosecution had not shown that any of Section 12’s grounds for denying bail applied; it therefore concluded that continued detention was not justified.

It directed that the juvenile be released into his parents’ custody if either parent furnishes a personal bond of ₹25,000 and one surety for the like amount, to the JJB’s satisfaction, securing his appearance when required.