B.Hemadri vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh
2022 Latest Caselaw 6525 AP

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

           CRIMINAL PETITION No.6909 OF 2022

ORDER:

This Criminal Petition is filed under Sections 437 & 439

of Criminal Procedure Code („Cr.P.C.‟ in short), seeking

regular bail, by the petitioners/ Accused Nos.1 to 10 in Crime

No.165 of 2022 of Puthalapattu Police Station, Chittoor

District, registered for the offences punishable under Sections

143, 147, 148, 307, 324, 323 r/w. 149, 120-b of the Indian

Penal Code, 1908 („IPC‟ in short) and Sections

3(1)(r),3(1)(s),3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and the

Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

2. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on

04.08.2022, when the complainant accompanying MLA in

GADAPA GADAPA program, the petitioners/accused formed

into unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons with

criminal conspiracy and attempt to kill the complainant.

Further they all abused the complainant by touching his caste

name and they all kicked him with legs and beat him with

hands. Hence, the above crime was registered against the

petitioners.

3. Notice under Section 15 A (3)(5) of Scheduled Castes

and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was

served on the defacto complainant and the same was placed

on record.

4. Heard Sri Ginjupalli Subba Rao, learned counsel for the

petitioners and learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor for

the respondent-State.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioners, in elaboration to

what has been stated in the grounds, contended that due to

the political reasons with a malafide intention, the petitioners

were falsely implicated in this crime. It is further stated that

the petitioner filed Crl.M.P.No.652 of 2022 before the learned

Sessions Judge, seeking grant of bail and the same was

dismissed by the learned Sessions Judge on 30.08.2022. It is

further contended that on a plain reading of the complaint no

ingredients attracting Section 307 of IPC against the

petitioners are found, the de facto complainant foisted this

false case. It is further contended that the provisions of

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act, 1989 has been foisted to arm-twist the

petitioners and all the petitioners cannot say or utter

offending words at some time which falsifies the version of

the complainant. In support of his contention, the learned

counsel for the petitioner relied on the decision of the

Composite High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Gara Yesoby v.

State of Andhra Pradesh1. The relevant portion of the said

judgment reads as under:

"6. .......

The Charge is bald and does not state who among the 66 persons named as accused uttered the offending words or which of the accused said what words and/or their overt acts. A plain reading of the charge sheet shows that all the accused abused the alleged victims. As rightly contended by the learned counsel it is not possible to believe that all accused, in chorus could have uttered the same words at the same time. So prima facie prosecution for an offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the Act is an abuse of process of law."

It is also contended that the petitioner is languishing in

jail for the last 35 days. Hence, prays this Court to consider

this application.

(2005) 1 ALT (Cri) 213

5. On the other hand, the learned Special Assistant Public

Prosecutor submitted that even though, substantial

investigation is completed, if bail is granted, the petitioners

may not co-operate with the investigation. Hence, prayed for

dismissal of the Petition.

7. Taking the submissions of the learned counsel for the

petitioners and the material available on record into

consideration and since the petitioners are languishing in jail

for the last 35 days and as substantial investigation is

completed and also by taking into consideration the judgment

referred supra as it is squarely applicable to the facts of the

present case, this Court is inclined to grant bail to the

petitioners, however by duly taking the apprehensions of the

learned Special Assistant Public Prosecutor into consideration,

on the following conditions:

(i) The petitioners shall be released on bail on their

executing self bond for Rs.25,000/- (Rupees twenty five

thousand only) each with two sureties each for a like sum

each to the satisfaction of the learned III Additional Judicial

Magistrate of First Class, Chittoor;

(ii) The petitioners shall appear before the Station House

Officer, Puthalapatuu Police Station, Chittoor District, once in

a week i.e. on every Sunday between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00

noon, till filing of the charge sheet; and

(iii) The petitioners shall not directly or indirectly contact the

de facto complainant or her family members and witnesses

under any circumstances in this regard and any such attempt

shall be construed as an attempt of influencing the witnesses

and shall not tamper the evidence; and

(iv) The petitioners shall not make any attempt to tamper

with the prosecution evidence. They shall make themselves

available to the investigating officer whenever required by

them to facilitate proper investigation in this case.

Further, the petitioner shall scrupulously comply with

the above conditions and in case of infraction of the same, the

prosecution is at liberty to move appropriate application for

cancellation of bail.

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 bail in the above Criminal

Petition and shall not have any bearing in any other

proceedings.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is allowed.

Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand

closed.

________________________ JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI 08th September, 2022 AG

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI

CRIMINAL PETITION No.6909 OF 2022

Date : 08.09.2022 AG