BNSS, and the guidelines li rrnulared by tlre Hon'ble Aper Courl in Arneslt Kumur v. State of lithart

This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri N PRATHAP KUIVAR, Advocate for the Petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla, the Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No. 1 and none appeared for the Respondent No.2 & 3. The court made the following: ORDER o IN THE I{IGH COURT FOR THE STATB OF TELAN( ANA A'f HYDERABAD .tIII.] IIONOURABLE, SRI JUSTICE J.SREENIVAS; LAO CRIMINAL PETITION No.17443 of 2025 Date:23.12.2025 Between Mr. Jokkoju vecrabrah.ra chary and two others ... ):titioners AND The State of Tetangana. Represented by Pu btic Prosecutor, High CoLrrt for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad and ancl ier. ... [{t : rondents Ordcr 'fhis CLiminal I'etition is llled seeking to cL ash the proceeclings in FII{ No.298 of 2025, on the file of the \J Milts Colony I)olicc Statior.r. Warangal District, wherein the p:titioners wele arrayecl as accused Nos.t,3 and 4, for the oflences lr nishable under Sections I20b,419, 468,471,411 and420 rlw.34 of r ,e lndian Penal Code, lti60 and Scction 156 (3) ofBharatiya Nagalik iuraksha Sanhitha. 2021

2. Heard Snrt.P.Vijay Lakshrni, learned counsel fbr the 1r, titioners and Mr..lithencler Rao Veeramalla, learned Additiona Public Prosecutor lbr- rcsporrclent No.I -State. '1

3. Learned counser for thc petitioners submits that the petitioners have not committed the alleged offences and that they have been falsely i,rplicated in the present crime. The allegations made in the complaint are purely civil in nature. The parties havc already approached the competent civil court and filed O.S.No.4l7 of 2012, on the file of the Principal Junior Civil Judge, Warangal. W1lile the said civil suit is pending, respondent No.2 filed a private complaint inrplicating the petitioners as accused by rnaking ornnibus allegations. Hence, continuation of thc proceedings against thc pctitioners aruounts to a clear abusc of the pr.occss of law.

1. Per contra, the learned Additional public prosecutor subrnitted that the respondent Nos.2 and 3 have made specific allegations in the private complaint and that the learned Magistrate has rcf'erred the .ratter for investigation to asceftain whether the petitioner.s have cornrnitted the oflences o'nol. on this basis. the petitioncrs are nol entitlcd to seek quashing of the crime at the threshold.

5. Having considered thc rival submissions made by ttie rcspectlve pafties and after perusal of the material availablc o, record, it reveals that the offences lcvelled against the petitioners ar.c punishable with an imprisonment of Iess than seven years. Hence. this 1 \ I a) 3 Court is of the considered view that the Investigating Officr: ought to have lollowed the procedure as contemplated under Sectic r 4l -A of f the Cr.l'.C./Section 35(3) of the BNSS, and the guidelines li rrnulared by tlre Hon'ble Aper Courl in Arneslt Kumur Vs. State of lithart .

6. In view of the sanre, the lnvestigating Officer is r i .ected to issue notice under Section 4l-A of Cr.P.C./Section 35(3) rf BNSS { I and tbllow the guidelines issued by the Hon'ble Apex lourt in Arnesh Kumar's case suprit and the petitioners are cl r:cted to cooperatc with thc investigation 7 . It is made clear that the petitioners are entitlecl rr submit reply/explanation along u, ith thc documents, which are avai i ble with them, to thc lnvestigating Ofliccr

8. It is rnade clear that, if thc petitioners fails to cooperat, with the Investigating Oftlccr. tbr investigation, the Investigating O icer is at liberly to take action against thenr in accordance with law.

9. Subject to thc above clirections, the Criminat pct tion is disposed ol. ' (2014) B scc 273 4 a Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand closed. oT //TRUE COPY// SD/. A. SREENIVASA REDDY ASSISTANT REGISTRAR 6 SECTION OFF]CER '1 . The I Addl. Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Warangal 2. The Station House Officer, Police Station, AJ Mills Colony, Warangal 3. Two CCs to Public Prosecutor, High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad (OUT)

4. One CC to SRI N PRATHAP KUMAR Advocate (OPUC) 5. Two CD Copies TPI(PSL W HIGH COURT DATED:2311212025 1, ? () () -^ ,.& ''(.,, rt tr) tt)l c)\ ORDER CRLP.N 017443 ot 2O2i CRIMINAL PETITION IS DISPOSE D OF &q tl