Sanjeev Alias Bittu Vs the State NCT of Delhi — Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) | Delhi HC (2026)

Sanjeev Alias Bittu Vs the State NCT of Delhi — Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) | Delhi HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

No bail relief; application dismissed as withdrawn with directions to the trial court to expedite the trial (preferably concluding within 06 months) and copy of the order to be sent to the Commissioner of Police regarding the investigation.

Issue for consideration

Whether the accused/applicant should be granted regular bail in FIR No. 765/2023 (resolved by withdrawal of the application on instructions, with a request to expedite the trial). +1 more

Court's answer

The bail application is dismissed as withdrawn, at the request of senior counsel on instructions, with directions to the learned trial court to expedite the trial.

Ratio / Principle

The trial court is requested to ensure the trial is concluded as expeditiously as possible and preferably within a period of 06 months, depending upon the workload of the court; senior counsel assured no adjournments would be sought.

Key takeaways

In a case resting on circumstantial evidence concerning the kidnapping, molestation and killing of a 09-year-old girl whose body was thrown in the canal, neither the mother nor the brother of the deceased (the persons who apparently last saw her) were examined by any of the multiple investigators (Inspector Gilu Ram Meena, ACP Arvind Sagar Negi and SI Rahul), and neither the officers who approved the chargesheet nor the trial court prosecutor examined this aspect.ratio¶18
A copy of the order is directed to be sent to the Commissioner of Police to apprise him of the slipshod manner in which such a serious crime has been investigated.ratio¶19
Cautious rider: the Court's discussion of the investigation lapses shall not be read by the trial court as a view about the complicity of the accused/applicant; the trial court shall take a complete independent view on the basis of evidence adduced during trial.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bail application dismissed as withdrawn; trial to be expedited; investigation lapses flagged to Commissioner of Police. In BAIL APPLN. 949/2026 (FIR No. 765/2023, PS Swaroop Nagar; offences under Ss. 363/364/302/201/376(3) IPC, S. 5(m) r/w S. 6 POCSO Act and S. 3(l)(s)(v) r/w S. 3(2)(v) SC/ST Act), senior counsel for the accused withdrew the regular bail application on instructions, requesting expedition of the trial. GIRISH KATHPALIA, J dismissed the application as withdrawn, directing the trial court to conclude the trial expeditiously, preferably within 06 months (only 17 of 41 prosecution witnesses examined), with counsel assuring no adjournments. Observing that the case rests on circumstantial evidence concerning the kidnapping, molestation and killing of a 09-year-old girl whose body was thrown in a canal, the Court noted that neither the mother nor the brother of the deceased - the persons who apparently last saw her - had been examined by any of the three investigators (Insp. Gilu Ram Meena, ACP Arvind Sagar Negi, SI Rahul), nor by the officers approving the chargesheet or the trial court prosecutor. Copy of the order was directed to the Commissioner of Police, with a cautious rider that these observations shall not be read as any view on the accused's complicity, on which the trial court is to take a complete independent view based on trial evidence.

$~3

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

- BAIL APPLN. 949/2026

SANJEEV ALIAS BITTU .....Petitioner

Through: Mr. Jitendra Sethi, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Hemant Gulati, Mr. Shobit Dimri, Bharat and Mr. Divyam Gaur, Advocates.

versus

THE STATE NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent Through: Mr. Amit Ahlawat, APP for State with Inspector Gilu Ram Meena.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GIRISH KATHPALIA

O R D E R % 22.04.2026

The accused/applicant seeks regular bail in case FIR No. 765/2023 of Police Station Swaroop Nagar for offence under Section 363/364/302/201 /376(3) IPC & Section 5 (m) read with Section 6 POCSO Act & Section 3(l)(s)(v) read with Section 3(2)(v) of SC/ST Act.

After last date, status report was filed.

After addressing partly, learned senior counsel for accused/applicant on instructions seeks permission to withdraw this bail application with the request that the trial court be directed to expedite the trial.

As requested, the bail application is dismissed as withdrawn with the directions to the learned trial court to expedite the trial, as out of 41 prosecution witnesses only 17 have been examined and the learned senior counsel for the accused/applicant assures that they would not seek any adjournment. The learned trial court is requested to ensure that the trial gets

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 23/04/2026 at 12:11:58

concluded as expeditiously as possible and preferably within a period of 06 months, of course depending upon the workload of the court.

However, this order cannot conclude only on disposal of the bail application. Certain serious and concerting issues need to be addressed. This is a case where a 09 year old girl child was kidnapped, molested and killed, after which her body was thrown in the canal. The case rests on circumstantial evidence. It is the mother and brother of the deceased, who apparently were the persons, having seen the deceased lastly, but for the reasons best known to the multiple investigators, neither mother nor brother of the deceased were examined. Inspector Gilu Ram Meena submits that he partly investigated the case and apart from him, ACP Arvind Sagar Negi and SI Rahul also investigated this case partly. None of them thought it fit to examine mother and/or brother of the deceased. Rather, it seems that even the police officers who approved the chargesheet did not care to examine this aspect. Even the trial court prosecutor seems to have not made any queries to the IO before submitting such chargesheet in trial court.

Copy of this order be sent to the Commissioner of Police to apprise him of the slipshod manner in which such serious crime has been investigated.

Of course, I must add a cautious rider that the above discussion shall not be read by the trial court as a view about complicity of the accused/applicant in the offence and in that regard the trial court shall take complete independent view on the basis of evidence adduced during trial.

GIRISH KATHPALIA, J

APRIL 22, 2026/ ry

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 23/04/2026 at 12:11:58