The High Court · 2025

Petition under section 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal Petition, the High court may be pleased to quash the Docket orderdated 23.06.2025 in cRL. SR. No.2384of 2025 on the file of the lll Additional Junior civil J udge-cum-Judicial Magistrate of First Class at Hanumakonda. l.A. NO: 1OF 2025 Petition under section 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to grant stay of all further proceedings in cRL. sR. No. 2384 of 2025 on the file of the lll Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate of First class at Hanumakonda including the appearance of the accused till the disposal of the Main Quash Petition. r .#-;+.;gl .i i@-z This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing t re Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the ir 3uments of Sri J Venkateswara Reddy. Advocate for the Petitioner, Sri Jither c ar Rao Veeramalla. Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Responde r t No. 1 and none appeared for the Respondent No. 2. The Court made the following: ORDER ,.ryr HIGH COURT FiOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAI) THE HONOURABLE SRI WSTICE J. SREENTVAS RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No. 17395 of 2o25 DATE:22.L2.2O25 Between : Puppala Ravi Kiran AND The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Public Prosecutor, High Court Buildings at Hyderabad and another ..Petitioner/accused :ORDER: ..Respondents This Criminal Petition has been filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, 'BNSS') by the peLitioner/accused seeking to quash the docket order dated 23.06.2025 in CRL.S.R.No.2384 of 2O25 passed by the learned III Additional Junior Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Halumakonda.

2. Heard Mr. B. Vivekananda, learned counsel representing Mr. J. Venkateshwar Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Mr. Jithendar Rao Veeramalla, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for respondent No. I State.

3. lrarned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is not seeking any relief against t'espondent No.2 in the present case and is only questioning tJ:re issuance of summons to him, which is contrary to 2 \i the provisions of the BNSS, and respondent No.ll has been made a profonna respondent. Hence, the notice to respondt r t No.2 is drspensed with.

3. 1. He furthcr submitted that thc trial Court, $'i hout recording any reasons ancl erpply his mind, passcd the docket orrl, r dated 23.06.2025 ald issued summons to the petitioner and the sarr e is contrary to the settled principle of lau, laid dou,n by the Hon'ble I pex Court in Sunil Bharati Mittal v. Central Bureau of Investlgatlon '

4. Per contra, the lcarned Additional Pub i: Prosecutor fairll' submitted that the learned Magistrate has isstt rd summons under Section 61 of the BNSS and the same is not applic;r rle to the facts of the case. He further submitted that as per the provisc Lo sub-section (1) of Section 223 of BNSS, the learned Magistrate, orLl ht to have issued a notice dirccting the petitioner to appear beforr: him to submit his version, for the purpose of taking cognizalce, on t.l e other hand, issued summons under Section 6l of BNSS.

5. Having considered the submissions ma I : by the respective parties and upon pemsal of the material availabl on record, it reveals that respondent No.2 filed a private complaint inr< king the provisions of Section 223 of BNSS for the offence under Sectiorr 356(2) of BNS against the petitioner. Based on the said complaint, J Le learned Magistrate passed the docket order dated 23.06.2O25 ald is;ued summons under ' (zot s) a scc ooq i I i i l l ! l I I I I I i 3 Section 6l of BNSS to the petitioner directing him to appear before the court on 37.12-2025- It is releva't to extract the relevant portion of the summons issued by the iearned Magistrate, which reads as under: "Where as your attendance is necessary to answer a Charge U/Sec.356(2) BNSS, 2023. You are hereby required to appear in person/by pleader, before the III Addl. Judicial First Class Magistrate at Hanumakonda, at 10,30 A.M. on the 31sr day of 12 of 2025."

6. It is very relevant to mention that as per the proviso to sub_ section (1) of Section 223 of the BNSS, after examination of the complaint and witnesses, the learned Magistrate, in order to take cognizance, has to issue notice to the accused and give opportunity to su bmit his version of arguments, if any, by producing ora.l and documentary evidence in defence of his case. However, in the present case, the learned Magistrate issued summons under Section 61 of the BNSS to answer the charge under Section 356(2) of the BNS, though that stage has not been reached. Hence, this court is of the considered view that the impugned summons issued by the learned Magistrate under Section 61 of the BNSS is contrary to the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 223 of the BNSS and th€ same is liable to be set asicle a:ld is accordingly set aside.

7. In the result, the crimina-l petition is a_llowed. The learned Magistrate is directed to issue notice under the proviso to sub-section 4 (1) of Section 223 of the BNSS to the petitioner anl proceed with the matter, in accordarrce with law Miscellancousapptications,pendingifanY,sh,rIstandclosed SD/. N SRIHARI D:PUTY REGISTRAR a;tt- //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER One Fair Copy to the Hon'ble Sri Justice J SREE I IIVAS RAO (For His Lordship's kind Perusal) To,

1. The lll Additronal Junior Civil J udge-cum-J ud icia I Magi trate of First Class at Hanumakonda 2. 11 LR Copies 3. The Under Secretary, Union of lndia, Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, New Delhi

4. The Secretary, Telangana High Court Advocate's A; ;ociation Library, High Court for the State of Telangana, High Court Buildings I t Hyderabad.

5. Two CCs to the Pub c Prosecutor, High Court for th: State of Telangana at Hyderabad.IOUT]

6. One CC to Srr J. Venkateswara Reddy. Advocate [OPL C] 7. Two CD Copies VH/PSL \qr I I I I I t I I I i I ! : I HIGH COURT DATED: 2211212025 ORDER CRLP.No.17395 o12025 ,i. r-1: J;Allr (! I o :J i, 3 0[[ iu\ *

1.,: -t '); i;.,i, )..- t i .\. ,1/ \ .'./ ),,. ALLOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION coRseA 2\ "fua