Krishna Sabavath & Ors. vs The State Of Telangana & Anr.

This Criminal Petition has been filed by the petitioners/accused Nos.1 to 3 seeking to quash the proceedings in Crime No.143 of 2026 of Balanagar Police Station, Mahabubnagar District, for the offences punishable under Sections 85, 115(2) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'the BNS').

Heard Mr. U. Chandrashekar, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent No.1. With their consent, this criminal petition is disposed of at the stage of admission.

Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners have not committed any offence and they have been falsely implicated in the present crime. Respondent No.2 implicated petitioner Nos.2 and 3 who are the mother and brother of petitioner No.1 as accused by making omnibus allegations. At no point of time did the petitioners harass respondent no.2 physically, mentally or demanded additional dowry as alleged in the complaint. Respondent No.2 left the matrimonial house of petitioner No.1 during the month of July and is living separately. Therefore, the question of demanding additional dowry by the petitioners does not arise. Hence, the continuation of the proceedings against the petitioners is a clear abuse of the process of law. He further submitted that the offences levelled against the petitioners are punishable with imprisonment of below seven years and the Investigating Officer, without following the mandatory procedure prescribed under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'BNSS') and the guidelines formulated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar^{11.(2014) 8 SCC 27.1}, is proceeding with the investigation and the same is contrary to law.

Per contra, learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that there are specific allegations levelled in the complaint about the harassment made by the petitioners. Whether the allegations levelled against the petitioners are true or not, the same has to be revealed during the course of investigation, especially the investigation is under progress and four witness statements were recorded by the Investigating Officer. At this stage, the petitioners are not entitled to seek quashment of the proceedings against them. Since the offences levelled against the petitioners are punishable with imprisonment of less than seven years, the Investigating Officer wants to follow the due procedure as contemplated under the provisions of Section 35(3) of the BNSS and the petitioners are not cooperating with the investigation.

Learned counsel for the petitioners by way of reply submitted that the petitioners will cooperate with the investigation.

Having considered the rival submissions made by the respective parties and upon perusal of the material available on record, it reveals that petitioner No.1 and respondent No.2 are none other than wife and husband and matrimonial disputes arose between them. The offences levelled against the petitioners are punishable with imprisonment of less than seven years. Even according to the learned Additional Public Prosecutor, the Investigating Officer wants to follow the due procedure as contemplated under the provisions of the 35(3) of the BNSS.

In view of the same, the petitioners are directed to appear before the Investigating Officer on or before 22.08.2026 and on such appearance, the Investigating Officer is directed to follow the procedure contemplated under the provisions of the BNSS, and also the guidelines formulated by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar (supra) and the petitioners shall cooperate with the investigation. It is needless to mention that the petitioners are entitled to submit reply to the notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS by raising all the pleas which are available to them and they are also entitled to submit the documents, if any, which are in their custody, to the Investigating Officer.

Accordingly, the Criminal Petition is disposed of.

Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand closed.