2026:APHC:18885 HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI ****

CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 12317/2025 Between:

1. P ASUPULETI CHINACHENNAIAH, S/O. RATHAIAH,AGED ABOUT 37 YEARS, R/O. 1-129,MITTAPALEM, PEDAPALEM, ATCHAMPETA MANDAL,GUNTUR, ANDHRA PRADESH-522410,PRESENTLY RESIDING IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.

...PETITIONER/ACCUSED AND

1. T HE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REPRESENTED BY S.H.O, NALLAPDU P.S., GUNTUR DISTRICT REP. THROUGH THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH.

2. G OSI VIJAYAKUMARI, W/O. SRIKANTHSAGAR,AGED ABOUT 37 YEARS, R/O. 10 LANE,SWARNABHARATHI NAGAR, GUNTUR,GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH.

...RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT(S):

****

DATE OF ORDER PRONOUNCED : 13.03.2026 SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL:

THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO

1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the Judgment? Yes/No

2. Whether the copy of Judgment may be marked to Law Reporters/Journals? Yes/No

3. Whether His Lordship wish to see the fair copy of the Judgment? Yes/No _________________________

Dr. Y. LAKSHMANA RAO, J * THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO + CRIMINAL PETITION NO: 12317/2025 % 13.03.2026 # Between:

1. P ASUPULETI CHINACHENNAIAH, S/O. RATHAIAH,AGED ABOUT 37 YEARS, R/O. 1-129,MITTAPALEM, PEDAPALEM, ATCHAMPETA MANDAL,GUNTUR, ANDHRA PRADESH-522410,PRESENTLY RESIDING IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.

...PETITIONER/ACCUSED AND

1. T HE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REPRESENTED BY S.H.O, NALLAPDU P.S., GUNTUR DISTRICT REP. THROUGH THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH.

2. G OSI VIJAYAKUMARI, W/O. SRIKANTHSAGAR,AGED ABOUT 37 YEARS, R/O. 10 LANE,SWARNABHARATHI NAGAR, GUNTUR,GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH.

...RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT(S):

! Counsel for the Petitioners : Sri N.Ashwani Kumar ^Counsel for the Respondents : Sri G.Sai Narayana Rao Gist:

> Head Note:

? Cases referred:

1. 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335

2. (2023) 11 SCC 182

3. (2021) 2 SCC 427

4. (2020) 10 SCC 710

5. (2019) 9 SCC 608

6. MANU/AP/1268/2012 7. Crl.P.No.525 of 2020 8. MANU/AP/0578/2022

9. 2020 SCC OnLine P&H 671

10. 2023 SCC OnLine Del 5288 11. 2020 SCC OnLine Cal 1860

12. Crl.P.No.100396 of 2022

13. 2024 SCC OnLine All 4591

14. MANU/CG/0237/2019 15. Crl.A.No.7821 of 2023

16. (2025) 3 SCC 612

17. (2007) 11 SCC 265

18. 2025 SCC OnLine Ker 5782

19. (1997) 1 SCC 283 20. (1981) 2 SCC 166 21. (1984) 1 SCC 446

22. (2023) 10 SCC 172

23. 1966 Supp SCR 286 THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE Y. LAKSHMANA RAO CRIMINAL PETITION No: 12317 of 2025

ORDER

Criminal Petition has been filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for brevity ‘the BNSS’)/Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity ‘the Cr.P.C.,’) by the Petitioner/Accused No.1, seeking to quash the proceedings against him in S.C.No.165 of 2025 on the file of learned IV Additional District Sessions Judge-cum-Speedy Trials Court for SC/ST Cases, Guntur.

FACTUAL MATRIX:

2. The factual matrix of the case is that the Respondent No.2, a member of the Scheduled Caste community, lodged a complaint alleging that the Petitioner borrowed substantial sums of money, partially repaid the same, and thereafter abused her with caste-based remarks while refusing repayment. It was further alleged that Accused No.2, acting in concert with the Petitioner, visited the complainant’s residence, took away certain documents, and hurled caste-based slurs. The FIR was registered under Section 79 of ‘the BNS’/Section 509 of ‘the I.P.C.,’ and Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), and 3(2)(va) of ‘the SCs/STs (POA) Act’. The Petitioner, however, asserts that the allegations are false, concocted, and motivated by malice, as he was residing abroad at the relevant time, and that the dispute is essentially civil in nature concerning alleged monetary transactions.

CONTENTIONS OF COUNSEL FOR THE PETITIONER:

3. Sri N.Ashwani Kumar, learned Counsel for the Petitioner submits that the entire substratum of the prosecution case is vitiated by mala fides, political vendetta, and a manifest abuse of the process