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Judgment
VIKRAM AGGARWAL, J (ORAL)
This is the second petition preferred under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short the ‘BNSS’) for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.12 dated 26.02.2026, registered at Police Station Punjab State Cyber Crime, SAS Nagar, Punjab, under Section 67-B of Information Technology Act and Section 15 of POCSO Act (added later on), the first having been withdrawn on 01.07.2026.
Custody certificate dated 02.09.2026 filed in Court today is taken on record.
The FIR in question was registered on a complaint having been received on National Cyber Crime Portal from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children with the allegation that videos depicting child pornography and sexually abusive material had been uploaded/ transmitted from two g-mail accounts. Upon inquiry, it was found that there were four videos and the g-mail account belonged to the petitioner as his phone number was found to be linked with the said g-mail account. Accordingly, the petitioner was arrested on 18.03.2026 and is in custody since then.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has been falsely implicated. He has referred to the cross-examination of the Inquiry Officer who stepped into the witness box as PW-1 and has submitted that eventually the Inquiry Officer stated that there were two videos and not four. He further submits that the petitioner is in custody for the last five and a half months; no recovery has to be made from him; investigation has been completed; out of 09 witnesses only 04 have been examined, antecedents of the petitioner are clean and the trial will still take a sufficiently long time and, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner in custody any longer.
Per contra, learned State counsel has opposed the bail application.
I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties.
The petitioner is in custody for the last more than five and a half months. His antecedents are clean. Investigation has been completed. Final report stands submitted. Charges have been framed. However, out of 09 witnesses, only 04 have been examined. The trial will, therefore, take a sufficiently long time to conclude and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner in custody any longer.
In view of the aforementioned facts and circumstances, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the present petition is allowed. The petitioner is ordered to be released on regular bail on his furnishing bail/surety bonds to the satisfaction of the concerned trial Court/Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate.