IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY THE SECOND DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKER CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1093 OF 2009 Between: D. Nooka Raju & Ors. … Petitioners-A1 to A5 V/s. The State of Andhra Pradesh Represented by its Public Prosecutor High Court of Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad. … Respondent-complainant Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri G.Tuhin Kumar Counsel for the Respondent : Addl.Public Prosecutor The Court made the following : Order follows next page THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKER CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1093 OF 2009 O R D E R : The petitioners herein are A-1 to A5 in Cr.No. 754 of 2008 of Kancharapalem Police Station, Visakhapatnam district. They filed this petition for quashing the said FIR against them. 2. The offences alleged are those punishable under section 498-A IPC and Section 3 (i) (x) of the SC & ST (POA) Act, 1989. 3. It is seen from the copy of the FIR filed by the petitioners that the defacto complainant who belongs to a scheduled caste married the son of the petitioners 1 and 2 and the husband of the defacto complainant unfortunately died in an accident. The version of the defacto complainant in the FIR is that after the death of her husband all the petitioners have harassed her and abused in the name of her caste in order to get rid of her. 4. Sri Tuhin Kumar, the learned counsel for the petitioners says that a perusal of the allegations in the FIR would show that they do not disclose the ingredients of the offence under section 3 (i) (x) of the Act. It is true that the allegations as such do not disclose that the petitioners have abused defacto complainant in the name of caste though there are allegations attracting the offence punishable under section 498-A IPC. 5. Basing on the said allegations in the FIR in so far as offence under section 3 (i) (x) of the Act is concerned, petitioners counsel sought for quashing the FIR for the offence. I am however unable to agree with this contention. It is now settled legal position that it is for Investigating Officer to find out whether offence under section 3 (i) (x) of the Act is made out or not. So far as offence under section 498-A IPC is concerned, there are allegations. This apart it should be noted that this Court cannot decide the matter when it is at the stage of FIR. 6. In these circumstances, this criminal petition is dismissed. So far as the arrest of the petitioners is concerned, if they have not been already arrested, the Investigating Officer shall keep in view the amended section 41 of Cr.P.C. in taking a decision in that behalf. __________________________ JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKER. 02-11-2011 I s L THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKER CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1093 OF 2009 CIRCULATION NO. 59 DATE:02-11-2011 COURT MASTER: I s L COMPUTER NO. 43