The court said swinging caste abuse must be in a public place to use SC/ST act.
Bengaluru:
The Karnataka High Court has said that violations under the Caste and Registered Tribes Act (Atrocity Prevention) require the expression of caste abuse in a public place.
It quashed a case pending against a person after it discovered that the alleged abuse was committed in a basement of a building, where only the victim and his colleagues were present.
In the alleged incident that happened in 2020, Rithesh Pias made the casteist assault against Mohan in the basement of a building where he was working with the others. All the workers were employed by the building owner Jayakumar R Nair.
Judge M. Nagaprasanna noted in his June 10 verdict: “On reading the above statements, two factors will come to the fore – one is that the basement of the building was not a place for the public and two, only persons who allege To be present were the complainants and other employees of Jayakumar R.Nair or friends of the complainants.
“The expression of abuse is clearly not in a public place or in a public place where the law in the present case can be passed,” the court said.
The court also notes that there are other factors at play in the case. The accused Rithesh Pias had a dispute with the building owner Jayakumar R Nair and had been granted a reprieve against the construction of the building.
The court concluded that Nair shot Pias on the ‘shoulder of his employee (Johan)’. The court said the issue of the dispute between the two “cannot be set aside because it demonstrates a clear link in the chain of events. Therefore, the crime registration itself suffers from a lack of bona fides.” In the Sessions Court in Mangaluru, where the case was pending, Pias was also charged under Section 323 (Voluntarily causing pain) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in addition to the Atrocities Act.
The Supreme Court also dismissed the charges, saying, “For an offense punishable under Section 323 IPC, damage must be caused by the altercation.” In this case, Mohan’s “wound certificate shows a simple scratch on the forearm and another scratch on the chest. Bleeding is not what is indicated. Therefore, simple scratches cannot be punishable under section 323 of the IPC,” the verdict said.
The High Court overturned the case pending in the lower court, saying: “In light of the above facts, if the basic ingredients of the offense are lacking, then allow such proceedings to continue and force the petitioner to cut the red tape face criminal proceedings are completely unjustified, leading to abuse of justice.”
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