Noida: Nearly 6 months after the suspicious death of a 32-year-old man who fell from the 19th floor of a residential society, a juvenile accused in the case has become the first among the five accused to secure bail. The Children’s Court granted him bail on July 10, while bail pleas of two adult co-accused were rejected earlier this year.After being arrested by Surajpur police in connection with the FIR filed under BNS Sections 103(1) (murder), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), he was sent to jail, where on April 18 he was declared a juvenile by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).The bail application was rejected by the JJB on May 26, against which a criminal appeal was filed in the Children’s Court by the appellant’s counsel, Sunil Fagna, under Section 101 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. He said that the juvenile was innocent and falsely implicated in the case.Special Judge Abhishek Pandey ordered release of the juvenile from juvenile home on execution of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of the like amount.No written objection was filed by the respondents, and no additional documentary or oral evidence was filed by either of the parties during the appeal. The court also noted that in the Social Investigation Report dated May 14, no such endorsement was made by the Reporting Person that the juvenile is a person of criminal nature and does not disclose any adverse fact against the appellant.“This Court finds it a fit case to release the Appellant on bail, as there does not appear any adverse fact against the Appellant in Social Investigation Report. Apart from this, in the opinion of this Court, there does not appear reasonable ground for believing that the release is likely to bring the Appellant into association with any known criminals or expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger or the release would defeat the ends of justice,” the judge ruled.The judge explained that a juvenile’s bail does not usually depend on the facts of the crime, but looking at this specific case, the accused faces murder and conspiracy charges under Sections 103(1) and 61(2) of the BNS.The incident relates to the death of Manish Kumar, who fell from the balcony of the 19th floor of Paramount Society in Greater Noida on the intervening night of Jan 14 and 15 and was found by his neighbours lying in a pool of blood on the second floor. Initially, it was suspected to be suicide, but based on the statements of family members and witnesses, a murder case was registered against his friends, all of whom were arrested on Jan 18. After interrogation, police arrested one more person.
