On 31st July 2025, the Supreme court in the case of MOHAN MANCHU BABU v. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ANOTHER reinstated that the Right to protest is a fundamental right.

FACTS

Appellants include Manchu Mohan Babu, who is the Chairman of Sri Vidyaniketan Educational Institutions and also his son, Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu. They were arrested for the protest on 22 March 2019. On that date, the Babu family together with faculty staff and students held a rally and a dharna on Tirupati- Madanapalli Road for the purpose of shouting against the government of Andhra Pradesh for not paying back the student fees. There was a Model Code of Conduct in place for the General Elections, and prior to that, there were restrictions on public gatherings in the form of a ban issued under the Police Act, 1861. A complaint put forth by the incharge of the Model Code of Conduct Team which in turn led to an FIR against the appellants for offenses as per Sections 290, 341 and 171F of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and Section 34 of the Police Act of 1861. Appellants challenged the said criminal proceedings which were dismissed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh which in turn prompted them to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

ISSUES

Whether the criminal proceedings against the appellants ought to be quashed?

JUDGEMENT

 The Supreme Court allowed the appeals and quashed the criminal proceedings against the appellants. The Court held that even if all the allegations in the FIR and the chargesheet were taken as true, the essential elements of the offenses in question were missing. It was held that the appellants’ actions in organizing the rally and dharna were, in law, the execution of their fundamental right to free speech and to assemble peacefully. The Court was of the opinion that the allegations that were not contested were insufficient to prove any crime, and as such, continuing the prosecution would constitute an abuse of the judicial process and would not advance the cause of justice. Through the tenets laid out in State of Haryana vs. Bhajan Lal the Court determined that the High Court had made a mistake in its judgment and that the FIR along with all which followed must be quashed.