Prosecution for COVID-19 related offences requires a valid complaint from an authorized public servant; failure to provide this renders proceedings void.

ORDER

Criminal Petition has been filed under Section 528 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Act, 2023 (for brevity the ‘BNSS’) by the Petitioners/Accused Nos.1 & 2, seeking to quash the proceedings against them in C.C.No.4579 of 2025 on the file of the learned Special Mobile Magistrate Court, Guntur.

2. The allegation against the Petitioners is that, on 11.05.2021 at about 19:00 hours, while the Sub Inspector of Police, Nallapadu Police Station, along with his staff, was enga‑ged in enforcing the curfew orders promulgated by the Government to contain the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic, the accused persons, namely, Chilaka Srikanth and Duggi Da‑su @ Prabhudas, were found travelling in a car bearing registration No.AP 07 EB 7929 without any lawful pass or authorization, and upon being lawfully intercepted, they not only disobeyed the prohibitory orders but also abused the police officials in vulgar language, threatened them with dire consequences, invoked political influence, and physically obstructed them from discharging their legitimate duties, thereby committing acts amounting to criminal intimidation, obstruction of public servants, violation of epidemic control measures, and disobedience of lawful orders. Their conduct, as recorded in the police proceedings, is alleged to constitute offences punishable under Sections 353 , 188, 269, 270, 271 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for brevity ‘the I.P.C.,’) and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 , and Section 51(1)(b) of the National Disaster ManagementAct, 2005.

3. The factual matrix, as borne out of the complaint lodged by K.Arogyaraju, Sub Inspector of Police, Nallapadu Police Station, Guntur Urban, is that on 11‑.05.2021 at about 07:00 PM, while he along with his staff HC 02 and PC 5415 was engaged in patrolling within the jurisdiction of Nal‑lapadu Polic‑e Station to enforce the Government promulgated curfew orders issued in view of the COVID 19 pandemic, the‑y intercepted a car bearing registration No.AP07EB7929 n‑ear Mirchi Yard. Upon questioning the occupants regarding their travel and demanding production of a valid pass, the two individuals allegedly descended from the vehicle, quarrelled with the police officials, abused them in filthy language, pushed them aside, and obstructed their lawful duties. Consequently, proceedings were registered in Cr.No.392/2021, culminating in the filing of a charge sheet numbered as C.C.No.4579/2025 before the learned Special Mobile Magistrate, Guntur.

4. Sri Patil Yugandhar Reddy, learned Counsel for the Petitioners submits that the entire prosecution is vitiated by legal infirmities and is a manifest abuse of the process of law. It is contended that the allegations under Section 188 of ‘the I.P.C.,’ are unsustainable inasmuch as cognizance of such offence is barred under Section 195 (1)(i) of ‘the Cr.P.C.,’ which mandates that only a complaint, in writing by the public servant who promulgated the order, or his administrative superior, can form the basis of prosecution. In the present case, the Sub Inspector of Police, being merely an implementing authority, had no compete‑nce to lodge the complaint, and therefore the proceedings are void ab initio. It is further urged that the charge sheet has been filed mechanically without adherence to statutory requirements, thereby rendering the cognizance taken by the learned Magistrate wholly unsustainable in law.

5. It is further argued that the ingredients of Sections 269 and 270 of ‘the I.P.C.,’ are conspicuously absent, as there is no allegation that the Petitioners were suffering from COVID 19 or that their conduct was