Allahabad High Court Observation : Caste Not Enough To Invoke SC/ST Act

Picture : ANI/X

The Allahabad high court has observed that provisions of the SC/ST Act cannot be invoked on someone solely because the complainant belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

As reported by PTI, Justice Santosh Rai made the observation while quashing criminal proceedings against an accused to the extent of SC/ST Act. Though the dispute was relating to a property but SC/ST Act was added because one party which was complainant was Scheduled Caste.

The court said that the mere fact that a complainant belongs to SC/ST, an offence under the SC/ST Act does not attract. For constituting an offence under the SC/ST Act, its ingredients must be present.

The dispute was related to a property transaction, but the provisions of the SC/ST Act were invoked solely because the complainant belonged to a Scheduled Caste.

Partly allowing the criminal appeal filed by Raju Kuraishi and four other accused, Justice Santosh Rai said, “As far as the offence under the SC/ST Act is concerned, there is no material in the FIR lodged at Loni police station in Ghaziabad or case diary to indicate that the accused applicants used any caste-based words or abused, insulted or humiliated the victim on the ground of his belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. Admittedly, the dispute between the parties essentially arises from a transaction concerning the sale of the disputed property.”