L`----J-=-i` r/ IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE = PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 5731 OF 2025 Between : 1. Sammeta David Raju, S/o. Veera Venkata Naga Rama Krishna Prasad, Aged about 34 years, R/o. Janda Chettu Centre, Repalle Town, Bapatla DistrI-Ct 2. Gunturu Naveen, S/o. Achiyya, Aged about 28 years, R/o. D.No. 3- 111/2, Battiprole, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522256 3. Mandru Sunny Babu, S/o. Naga Malaswara Rao Aged about 27 years, R/o. D.No. 3-166/1, Battiprole, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522256 4. Pulivarti Vamsi Krishna, S/o. Chenchaiah, Aged about 32 years, R/o. 4- 134, Pallikona, Guntur, And+hra Pradesh, 522256 ...Petitl-oners/Accused No.1 to 4 .I AND 1. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep., by its public prosecutor, AP High Court, Amaravathi, Rep., for the station House Officer, Bat±iprole, P.S., Bapatla District. 2. Banavath Siva Sankar, S/o. Govindu, R/o. D.No. 8-147/A, Vellaturu, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522257 Respondents 7 / APHCO10277292025 PetitI-On under Sections 480 & 483 of BNSS r/w Sections 437 & 439 of Cr.P.C, praying that in the circumstances stated in the memorandum of grounds filed in support of the Crim'lnal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to enlarge the Petitio-hers/Accused No. 1 to 4 on bail in Crime No. 60 of 2025 Dt. 09.04.2025 On the file of Battiprole P.S., Bapatla DistrI'Ct in the interest of Justice and Equity COUNSEL FOR PETITIONERS Sri Kunuku Raja Sekhar COUNSEL FOR RESPONDENT No.1. Public Prosecutor The Court made the following: ORDER.. The Criminal Petition has been filed under Sections 437 and 439 of the code of criminal procedure, 1973 (for brevity tthe Cr.P.Cl)/ sections480 and 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023(for brevity [the BNSS'), seeking to enlarge the petitioners/Accused Nos.1 to 4 on bail in Cr.No.60 of 2025 of Bhattiprole Police Station, Bapatla DIStriCt, registered against the PetltiOnerS/Afcu96d Nos 1 to 4 `.-, r` ___ .f €.i+,~ 2 Dr. YLR, J CrI.P.No.5731 of 2025 Dated 25.06.2025 herein for the offences punishable under Section 108 of lthe BNS' and later Sections 329 (4) of [the BNS" and Section 3 (2) (v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for brevity [the Act'). 2. The learned counsel for the petitioners seeks permission to withdraw the petition against petI'tiOner No.1/A-1/Sammeta David Raju. The petI'tiOn against Petitioner No.1/A-1 is accordl-ngly dismissed as not pressed \or withdrawn . 3. Necessary facts are that the mother of the complainant obtained loan from Five Star Business Finance Ltd., by mortgaging her house about one year ago. Initially, she paid loan amount installments for six (06) months later she could not pay. On that the petitioners, who are the agents of Five Star Finance Company came to her house and harassed her to repay the loan amount. On 08.04.2025 at about 5.30 PM, the petitioners came to the mother of the complainant and asked her to repay the loan amount, abused her, threw the household articles outside o--*= _axI .' _ and insulted her in the public as "DABBULU KATTALENI DANIVI ENDUKU TISKUNNAVE CHAVAVE" due to their words, she mentally agonized and committed suicide by handing to ceiling of the house with saree. The son of the deceased gave. a complaint to the police. `-JJ `Tr`~ ~.;jpr Dr. YLR, J Crl.P.No.5731 of 2025 Dated 25.06.2025 4. Sri Kunuku Rajasekhar, the,learned counsel for the petitioners, submits that the petitioners have not committed any offence; the petitioners are innocent; the petitioners are leading their lives peacefully by honest means; they have small ch'lldren and aged parents; the petitioners have fixed abodes and sureties; they would not flee from the clutches of justice; they were falsely 'implicated in this case; the petitioners would abide by any conditions imposed by this Court; the material portion of the investigation has been completed; the petitioners have been languishing in jail for the past 63 days, and therefore urged to be enlarged on bail. 5. The learned counsel for the petitioners vehemently contended that Petitioner No.2/A-2/Gunturu Naveen and Petitioner No.3/A-3/Mandru Sunny Babu belong to the SC Mala Community, and Petitioner No.4/A- 4/Pulivarfi Vamsi Krishna belongs to the SC Madiga Community. Therefore, the provisions of lthe Act] are not applicable to the case on hand. The Petitioner NosI 2 to 4 have been languishing unnecessarily in jail. The learned Judicial Mag-IStrate I concerned, While remanding petitioner Nos. 2 to 4, had not verified or taken into consideration the averments of the Remand Report, which clearly state that Pe{i{ioner Nos. 2 {o 4 belong to the SC Community. Unfortunately, the learned I / I RE __-_-frrf Dated 25.06.2025 i( SpecI`aI Judge, while considering the two baI-I applications filed by Petitioner Nos. 2 to 4, did not appreciate the facts, although the same was brought to the notice of the learned Special Judge by the learned counsel. 6. Per cot,fro, Mr. Neelotphal Ganji, the learned Assl'stant Public Prosecutor, submits that when successive bail applications have been dismissed by the learned Special Judge, Petitioner Nos. 2 to 4 ought to filed an appeal under Section 14-A of {the Act.,I and filing a regular bail application is hit by Section 14-A of lthe Act]. Therefore, this bail application is not maintainable, while admitting that the provisions of fthe Actj are not applicable to Petitioner Nos. 2 to 4, and urged to dispose of the matter in the interest of justice, as Petitioner Nos. 2 to 4 have been languishing in jail for the past 63 days. 7. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor. 8. Perused the record. 9. Indeed, the Investigation offI-Cer at the time Of fOrWarding the petitioners to the learned Jurisdictional Magistrate for remand clearly a-- '- -``, stated at Page No.3 of the Remaild Report that PetI-tiOner No.1/A-1 / `h`- r- -E=-_TEiE=fi 10. Ironically, the learned Special Judge, without going into the averments of the Remand Report that the Petitioner Nos.2 to 4 are belongs to SC Community, erroneously and in a mechanical way observed that a pry-ma faC,-e Case Was made Out against the PetitI-Oner Nos.2 to 4 for the offence punishable under [the Act'. ll. Of course, the provisions of {the ActJ are not applicable to Petitioner Nos.2 to 4 for the simple reason that Section 3 of fthe Act' begins with the phrase "whoever, not being a member of the SC or ST Community". If the assailants belong to the SC or ST Community, the criminal provisions of tthe ActJ are not applicable to them. Another allegation is that the petitioners have abetted Banava{h Padma to commit suicide because of their foul words. 12. As seen from the record, in this case as many as 13 witnesses have been examined by the Investigating Officer, that shows that material portion of the investigation is completed. Considering the nature of the allegations levelled against the Petitioner Nos.2 to 4, their alleged role played in this case, the stage of investigation, and the period Of t---I.I._Tj / =E=-r Dated 25.06.2025 `\1., `\li detention undergone by them, this Court deems it fit to enlarge the Petitioner Nos.2 to 4 on bail, but with s{ringen{ conditions. 13. ln the result, the Criminal Petition against the Petitioner No.1/A-1 is dismissed as withdrawn and the criminal Petition is allowed in favour of PetitI|,Oner Nos.2 to 4, with the following conditI-OnS: i. The petitioners/Accused Nos.2 to 4 shall be enlarged on bail subject to them executing a bond for a sum of -Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only) each with two sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction` of the learned Additional Junior Civil Judge, Repalle. ii. The petI'tI'OnerS/Accused Nos,2 to 4 shall appear before the lnvestl'gating officer, on every saturday I-n between 10:00 am and 05:00 pm, till conclusion of the Trial. iii. The petitioners/Accused Nos.2 {o 4 shall not leave the headquarters of the District without express permission of the learned Trial Judge. iv. The,petitioners/Accused 'Nos.2 to 4 shall surrender their passport, if any, to the Investigating officer until the conclusion of the trial. lf the petitioners do not have a /-I *±*i ----` I_ ,-..i.* \# To 7 Dr. YLR, J Crl.P.No.5731 of 2025 Dated 25.06.2025 passport, they shall-s.ubmI't an affidavit to the Investigating Officer to that effect. v. The petitioners/Accused Nos.2 to 4 sha" give their complete address particulars along with theI-r Mobile numbers to the Investigating officer. vj. The PetI-tiOners/Accused Nos. 2 to 4 sha" not, eI-ther dl'rectly or I-ndl-rectly, threaten, force, or exert undue influence on the witnesses. vii. The petitI'OnerS/Accused Nos.2 to 4 sha" not I-n{erfere jn the l|nvestl-gatl'on process, but they shall cooperate with the lnves{igatl-ng officer jn further investigation of the case and shall be ava]'Iable {o the I-nVeStl-ga{jng officer as and when called by him. viola{I'On Of any of the conditions sha" automatically entaI'l CanCella{jon of ba" by the learned Trial Court- i stTSPt¥-_s'BI DEvB` TRUE COPY,,F ASsS:SCTT:oNifeEFG,JcSETRRAR 1. The Additional JunI'Or CI|V" Judge, Repalle, 2. The StatI|On House officer, BattI'PrOIe, P.S., Bapatla Dl'strl'ct. 3. The superintendent, sub Jail, Repalle, Bapt[a D['strjct. 4. Banavath siva sankar, s/o. GovI-ndu, R/o. D.No. 8-147/A, Vellaturu, Guntur, Andhra pradesh 522257 5. One cc to sri Kunuku Raja Sekhar, Advocate [opuc] 6. Two ccs to PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, High Court ofAndhra pradesh [OUTJ 78 One spare copy PSR ±* --_.. HIGH COURT DR.YLR,J DATED : 25/06/2025 BAIL ORDER CRLP.No.5731 of 2025 ALLOWED afrofro `