Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:46535 Court No. - 14 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1871 of 2025 Appellant :- Amit Kumar Shukla @ Rinku Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Kailash Nath Mishra,Rahul Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Girish Kumar Pandey,Sher Bahadur Yadav Hon'ble Shree Prakash Singh,J. Sri G.K.Pandey, Advocate, has put in appearance by way of filing Vakalatnama on behalf of the respondent no. 2 and the same is taken on record. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, Sri G.K.Pandey, learned counsel for the respondent no. 2, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record. The instant appeal under section 14-A (1) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (As amended by Amendment Act 2018) has been filed against the Order dated 26-05-2025 passed by the learned Special Judge(SC/ST Act) Gonda, whereby the protest application No. 7Kh filed by the respondent no. 2 against the final report No. 01/2021, filed by the Investigating Officer in Case Crime No. 38 of 2021, under sections 376-D I.P.C. and section 3(2) (5) of the SC/ST Act, Police Station-Umari Begumganj, District-Gonda. Contention put forth by the learned counsel for the appellant is that the first information report was lodged by the respondent no. 2/informant, whereafter, the investigation was done and the final report was submitted as final report no. 42 of 2021. He submits that the protest application was filed, which was rejected by learned trial court and a direction was made by the learned trial court for further investigation and in compliance thereof, the further investigation was conducted and again the final report, bearing final report no. 01 of 2021, was submitted on 18-01-2021, whereafter, the protest application was filed, whereupon the learned trial court has passed the order on 26-05- 2025, which is impugned in this appeal. He argued that the learned trial court has passed the order in a hasty manner as the final report no. 42 no. 2021, which was earlier rejected, has again been rejected by the order impugned and the final report no. 01 of 2021, is still intact and in this view of the matter, the order passed by the learned trial court is without application of mind and erroneous as well, and therefore, submission is that the impugned order dated 26-05-2025, may be set aside. On the other hand, Sri G.K. Pandey, learned counsel appearing for the respondent no. 2 as well as learned counsel for the State have vehemently opposed the contentions aforesaid, but, they have failed to dispute the contention of learned counsel for the appellant that in the order impugned, the final report no. 01 of 2021, has not been rejected. Considering the submissions of learned counsels for the parties and after perusal of material placed on record,particularly, the argument of learned counsel for the appellant that the final report no. 01 of 2021, has not been rejected and the court proceeded in the matter, is sustainable. Thus, the order dated 26-05-2025 passed by the learned Special Judge(SC/ST Act) Gonda, is hereby set aside. The matter is remitted back to the trial court concerned to pass a fresh order on the protest application within a period of 45 days from the date of this order and the parties shall cooperate in the proceedings. The appeal is allowed accordingly. Order Date :- 8.8.2025 AKS Digitally signed by :- ANUJ KRISHNA SRIVASTAVA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench