New Delhi: A casteist slur allegedly uttered in a closed room cannot by itself attract the “public view” requirement under the SC/ST Act, the Supreme Court has ruled while quashing proceedings against a school manager.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing an appeal against an Allahabad High Court order that had refused to quash proceedings against the manager under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. A police case was subsequently registered under the SC/ST Act and a chargesheet was filed. The court drew a distinction between such a situation and an incident occurring inside a private, enclosed space.
Because the case was allegedly motivated by vendetta, the high court refused to interfere and held that the proceedings could not be quashed simply.
It said a prima facie case existed. The matter then reached the Supreme Court, with the question of whether the alleged casteist remarks were made in “public view” forming the basis of the court’s examination.
The manager challenged the summons issued by the special court before the Allahabad High Court.
She said the manager intervened and was also assaulted. The school manager’s wife later filed a cross-FIR, alleging that the complainant had verbally abused and assaulted her in the school office. A local court subsequently took cognisance of the chargesheet in that case as well.
