OU professor C Kaseem.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday, February 20, set aside two criminal cases filed against professor C Kaseem, principal of Osmania University’s Arts College, pointing to a key procedural flaw in the manner in which the charges were initiated.
Justice Tukaram, while allowing the petitions filed by Kaseem, held that the prosecution failed to comply with mandatory statutory requirements, rendering the proceedings legally untenable.
The court observed that when a specific procedure is laid down by law for launching prosecution, it must be followed strictly.
The cases stemmed from allegations in 2023 that Kaseem had organised an unauthorised dharna on the Osmania University campus, purportedly in violation of a prohibitory order issued by the university registrar.
Police at the OU police station had registered FIRs accusing him of breaching the order and creating a nuisance.
Appearing for the professor, counsel Th Rahul contended that the law requires a written complaint to be filed directly before a magistrate by the concerned public servant—in this case, the registrar—before a court can take cognisance of such offences. Instead, the FIRs were registered by the police based on internal communication, bypassing the prescribed legal channel.
Agreeing with the defence, the High Court ruled that cognisance of the alleged offences could not have been taken without adherence to the statutory safeguard.
Since the mandatory procedure was not followed, the court concluded that the criminal proceedings could not be sustained and accordingly quashed the cases against Kaseem.
This post was last modified on February 21, 2026 11:37 am