THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKAR CRIMINAL PETITION No.5574 of 2011 ORDER: Heard the petitioners’ counsel and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor. 2. The allegations in the FIR do disclose an offence punishable under Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The learned counsel for the petitioners pointed out that there is a land dispute and there is also a delay of 7 days in giving the FIR. It may be noted that the delay is explained in the FIR stating that the de facto complainant and his men went to the Collector for resolution of the dispute. The other contentions raised by the petitioners counsel fall within the purview of the disputed questions of fact and hence cannot be gone into in this petition. Accordingly this petition is dismissed at the admission stage. 3. It may however be noted that all the petitioners are stated to be agriculturists. In view of this and having regard to the fact that the custodial interrogation may not be necessary in this case, the concerned investigating officer shall keep in view the provisions of Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as it stands today before taking a decision about their arrest. ______________________ N. RAVI SHANKAR, J 12th July 2011 CVRK