31-07-2025
Top court cancels FIR against actor Mohan Babu over student fee protest rally
The Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated the FIR filed against Telugu actor Mohan Babu and his son Vishnu Vardhan Babu in a 2019 case related to organising a rally and allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct. The case pertains to a university rally regarding the release of funds by the government.A bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna set aside the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which had refused to quash the proceedings, stating that there were no tenable grounds to continue the to the prosecution, in 2019, Mohan Babu—Chairman of Sri Vidyaniketan Educational Institutions in A. Rangampet Village, Chandragiri Mandal—along with others, gathered staff and students to conduct a rally from the university premises towards Tirupati–Madanapalli Road. The group allegedly raised slogans against the then-ruling government of Andhra Pradesh for not granting students' fee reimbursements to their institutions.
The protest, which reportedly took place between 8:30 am and 12:30 pm, allegedly obstructed the free flow of traffic and caused inconvenience and risk to the public, despite the Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct and Prohibitory Orders being in petitioners argued that multiple representations were made to the government for the release of reimbursement funds, but no action was taken, leading to the peaceful protest. They contended that the Model Code of Conduct could not be applied to them as they were not contesting in the 2019 Assembly Election nor aiding any political the prosecution claimed that the entire incident was videographed and that there were specific overt acts attributed to the petitioners. It was further alleged that the public and vehicles were restrained for four hours, and that the actions of the petitioners amounted to cognisable offences.- Ends
