Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
Melam Srinivas Rao vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh on 29 July, 2022
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SUBBA REDDY SATTI
CRIMINAL PETITION No.4791 OF 2022
ORDER:
The petitioner, A-11 in Crime No.85 of 2022 of Pithapuram Rural
Police Station, East Godavari District, filed this Criminal Petition under
Section 438 of Criminal Procedure Code, seeking pre-arrest bail.
2. The above crime is registered for the offences punishable under
Sections 307, 323, 427 r/w 34 IPC and under Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s),
3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short, 'SC and ST Act').
3. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 30.04.2022 at
about 01.00 A.M., about 150 persons belonging to Kapu community of
Mallam Village, entered into Ambedkar Colony and quarreled with one
Randa Satyanarayana and beat him with hands indiscrimately. On
hearing, the complainant rushed to the spot and intervened and
questioned about the issue, A-1 attacked him and beat with hands
indiscrimately and abused him with caste. One of the accused pulled his
testicles forcibly and the complainant sustained bleeding injuries and the
complainant rushed to the Government General Hospital, Kakinada. The
accused also attacked some houses and caused mischief due to the
incident occurred in Jathara. Basing on the above incident, police
registered the above crime on 30.04.2022 for the aforesaid offences.
4. Heard Sri K.B.Ramanna Dora, learned counsel for the petitioner
and Sri Soora Venkata Sainath, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for
the respondent-State.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner would contend that no
allegations are made against A-11. He would submit that a perusal of the
complaint would indicate that the petitioner, who is A-11, did not stop the
other persons when the incident took place. Since no specific allegation
was made against the petitioner with regard to either utterances or
involvement in the incident when the other accused beat the complainant,
the provisions of the SC and ST Act would not attract for the petitioner,
for which, he relied on the judgment of the Apex Court in Prathvi Raj
Chauhan vs Union Of India1.
6. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor opposed the Criminal Petition
and would contend that in view of the bar under Section 18 of the SC and
ST Act, the present Criminal Petition seeking anticipatory bail under
Section 438 Cr.P.C is not maintainable. Learned Additional Public
Prosecutor also would contend that in the Section 161 Cr.P.C statement of
L.W.31, she stated about the petitioner coming to the places and also
abusing them by touching the caste. Therefore, he would submit that in
view of the same, the Criminal Petition under Section 438 Cr.P.C is not
maintainable. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor further submits that
notice under Section 15A (3) of the SC and ST Act was served on the
complainant on 15.07.2022.
7. A perusal of the complaint would indicate that the petitioner and
Ex-Sarpanch by name Burra Kumar did not stop other persons from
attacking the injured. Statements of other witnesses also disclose that the
presence of the petitioner and that the petitioner did not stop the other
persons when they are attacking the complainant. However, except the
(2020) 4 SCC 727
statement of L.W.31, none of the other witnesses, in the statements
recorded by the police, speak about the role of the petitioner and his
committing the offence under the provisions of the SC and ST Act.
According to the prosecution, A-1 kicked the complainant and also pulled
the testicles of the complainant forcibly and on that skin was cut and one
of the testicles came out and caused heavy bleeding injury. The allegation
against the petitioner as referred supra is that the petitioner was present
along with others and they are simply witnessing the same and did not
stop the attack.
8. Therefore, in view of the fact that nothing specific was attributed
against the petitioner, this Court is inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the
petitioner, on the following conditions.
(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest in
connection with Crime No.85 of 2022 of Pithapuram Rural Police Station,
on his executing a self bond for Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only)
with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the Station
House Officer, Pithapuram Rural Police Station, East Godavari District;
(ii) The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation;
(iii) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly contact the
complainant or any other witnesses under any circumstances and any
such attempt shall be construed as an attempt at influencing the
witnesses and shall not tamper the evidence;
9. Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.
10. The petitioner shall scrupulously comply with the above conditions
and any infraction of the same will be viewed seriously and it also entails
cancellation of bail.
11. It is made clear that this order does not, in any manner, limit or
restrict the rights of the Police or the investigating agency from further
investigation as per law and the finding in this order be construed as
expression of opinion only for the limited purpose of considering the
anticipatory bail in the above crime and shall not have any bearing in any
other proceedings.
Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand closed.
________________________
JUSTICE SUBBA REDDY SATTI
29th July, 2022
AKN
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SUBBA REDDY SATTI
CRIMINAL PETITION No.4791 of 2022
Date: 29-07-2022
AKN
