The court affirmed that allegations must substantiate prima facie evidence for prosecution under SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, particularly in service disputes, which should be resolved through administrative channels.

COMMON ORDER:

Criminal Petition No.8685 of 2017 is filed by A3 K. Ranta Kishore and Criminal Petition No.9840 of 2017 is filed by A1, A2 and A4 to A8 i.e. Dr. K.Varaprasad, Dr. U. Surya Kumari, Dr. Vishnu Prasad, V. Prem Kumar, M. Manjula, Prameswara Reddy and Dr. MBR Sharma to quash the proceedings against them in PRC No.24 of 2017 on the file of Special Mobile Magistrate, Guntur, for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B and 506 read with 149 IPC and Section 3 (1) (ix), 3 (1) (x) and 3(2)(vii) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (for short ‘the Act’).

2. The 1^st respondent – Dr. Yekula Kiran Kumar, is the de facto complainant, and presently he is working as a Professor of General Surgery in Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupathi.

3. The 1^st respondent lodged a private complaint before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Special Mobile Court, Guntur, and the Magistrate in turn, by exercising power under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C., referred the case to the police, who in turn registered a crime against the petitioners for various offences, and investigated into the same and filed final report before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, by referring the case as ‘Mistake of fact’, while issuing notice to the 1^st respondent.

4. On receipt of notice, the 1^st respondent filed a protest petition before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, who in turn, recorded the statement of the 1^st respondent and one Gollamudi Raja Sundara Babu as PWs.1 and 2 and took cognizance of the offences punishable under the above mentioned Sections, against the petitioners.

5. The 1^st respondent is a Professor in General Surgery in Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupathi. Earlier, he worked as a Professor of General Surgery in Government General Hospital, Guntur Medical College, Guntur. He joined service in the year 1991 as a Civil Assistant Surgeon. In the year 2004, he was promoted and posted as Associate Professor, Sri Ranga Raya Medical College, Kakinada. The 1^st respondent belongs to Scheduled Caste category. The petitioners are the superiors of the 1^st respondent and the petitioners allegedly discriminated the 1^st respondent and denied promotion during the year 2003-2004, and reverted him as Assistant Professor. The petitioners did not implement the order passed by the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal and failed to follow the roster point with an intention to cause harm to the 1^st respondent. The 2^nd witness represented to SC and ST Commission about irregularities and the Commission took the complaint and addressed a letter to the Superintendent of Police, Guntur, who in turn, directed the Station House Officer, Nagarampalem, to register the case. Accordingly, the Station House Officer, Nagarampalem Police Station registered a case in Crime No.242 of 2011 under Section 3(1)(x) of the Act. The police sent a report to the Government of Andhra Pradesh and SC & ST Commissioner and after enquiry, report was submitted.

6. On 31.01.2013, A1 to A6 gave notional promotion but subsequently, the said order was withdrawn. A3 worked as a Secretary to the Medical and Health Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh. As the 1^st respondent was not promoted intentionally and also withdrawn the notional promotion by A2 to A7 and submitted a