17. Bail of child or young person.- When a person apparently under the age of sixteen years is arrested and cannot be brought forthwith before a Court, the officer in charge of the police-station to which such person is brought may in any case and shall, unless the charge is one of culpable homicide or any other offence punishable with death or transportation, release him on bail, with or without sureties:
Provided that when a girl apparently under the age of sixteen years is arrested, the officer in charge of a police-station who has made the arrest, or before whom the girl has been produced, shall release her at once if any person, who in his opinion is a sufficient surety, enters into a bond for such sum of money as the officer considers sufficient, to produce her before the Court and to appear in her stead, if required, at the police-station.
