The Supreme Court cancelled the criminal case filed against actor Mohan Babu and his son Vishnu Manchu over a 2019 student protest in Tirupati. The Court said there was no crime found and they were only using their right to protest.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a big relief to famous Telugu actor and film producer Mohan Babu and his son Vishnu Manchu by cancelling a criminal case filed against them.
The case was related to a student protest held in Tirupati in 2019, where students demanded fee reimbursement. The Court clearly said that no criminal act was found in the case, and so the case should not continue.
A Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan said that after reading the FIR (First Information Report) and charge sheet, it was clear that nothing illegal was done by the accused.
“A reading of the FIR and the charge-sheet neither discloses any act committed or illegal commission that caused common injury, danger, annoyance to the public or any section of the public or interference with their public rights, nor do they disclose any voluntary obstruction to a person that prevents them from proceeding in any direction that they have a right to proceed in,” the Court said.
Mohan Babu is also the Chairman of Sri Vidyaniketan Educational Institutions. In 2019, just before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, he and his son Vishnu Manchu participated in a protest rally on the Tirupati-Madanapalli road.
They raised slogans against the State Government, saying it had failed to reimburse students’ fees. Because of this protest, a complaint was made by the In-charge of the Model Code of Conduct Team-IV from the Chandragiri Assembly Constituency.
In January 2025, the Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to cancel the case, saying there were specific allegations against the two. However, the Supreme Court disagreed and said that the case did not meet the basic legal requirements to move forward.
The top court clearly said there was no proof of anything wrong or illegal related to the elections, like trying to influence voters or using fake identities. There was also no proof that the protest caused trouble for the public or broke any rule under Section 34 of the Police Act, 1861.
“Further they do not suggest that any act was committed on a road or in an open place within the limits of a town that caused inconvenience, annoyance or posed a risk of danger or inquiry or damage to the public, and do not disclose any of the eight specified actions under Section 34 of the Police Act, 1861,” it added.
Instead, the Supreme Court said it was clear that Mohan Babu and Vishnu Manchu were just using their legal right to protest.
“The appellants were exercising their right to freedom of speech and expression and to assemble peacefully. Therefore, no purpose will be served by continuing the prosecution,” it said.
So, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal made against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s earlier decision. It cancelled the FIR and ended the criminal case against Mohan Babu and Vishnu Manchu.
- Senior Advocate Raghavendra S Srivatsa, along with Pai Amit, Abhiyudaya Vats, Tathagata Dutta, and Pankhuri Bhardwaj, represented Mohan Babu in the Supreme Court.
- On the other side, Advocates Prerna Singh, Dhruv Yadav, and Guntur Pramod Kumar represented the State of Andhra Pradesh.
CASE TTILE:
Manchu Mohan Babu vs State of AP
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