‘Act aimed at protecting SC/ST people from atrocity or oppression can’t be allowed to be misused’
Offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, cannot be presumed to be committed in every crime where the victim happens to be an SC or ST, the High Court of Karnataka has said.
The court also pointed out that if motive for crime is not caste-based attack or hatred towards that caste, the accused can only be chargesheeted for any of the offences under Indian Penal Code that can be appropriately invoked in the background of the incident of crime or under other laws that can be applied as the facts and circumstances indicate.
Even thought the Act is essentially meant for protecting members of the SC and ST communities from atrocity or oppression, at the same time, it cannot be allowed to be misused; and therefore, the court said, there is a greater responsibility on the investigating officer to take decision wisely before filing the chargesheet.
Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar passed the order while quashing the criminal proceedings initiated against one Lokanath, a resident of the city. The proceedings were initiated based on a complaint lodged by one Srisangam Priya of Tumakuru in relation to a decades-old dispute over land before various legal fora even prior to lodging of the complaint in 2020 invoking provisions of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Civil dispute
From the facts of the case and the chargesheet filed by the police, no offence of atrocity appears to have taken place, the court said, while pointing out that the materials disclose that it is a civil dispute between owners of two adjacent pieces of land and one happens to be a member the SC community.
“Unless the investigation indicates or reveals intention of a person not belonging to SC or ST community to commit any of the offences under Section 3 of the Act, in order to oppress or insult or humiliate or subjugate or ridicule a member of the SC or ST community as such person merely belongs to that caste, the offence under Section 3 cannot be invoked in the chargesheet,” the court observed.
