Home Case Index All Cases Indian Laws Indian Laws + SC Indian Laws - 2020 (2) TMI SC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2020 (2) TMI 1705 - SC - Indian LawsInterpretation of statute - provisions inserted by way of carving out Section 18A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. As per Arun Mishra, J. HELD THAT:- The Section 18A(i) was inserted owing to the decision of this Court in Dr. Subhash Kashinath [2018 (3) TMI 2005 - SUPREME COURT], which made it necessary to obtain the approval of the appointing authority concerning a public servant and the SSP in the case of arrest of Accused persons. This Court has also recalled that direction on Review Petition (Crl.) No. 228 of 2018 decided on 1.10.2019. Thus, the provisions which have been made in Section 18A are rendered of academic use as they were enacted to take care of mandate issued in Dr. Subhash Kashinath (supra) which no more prevails. The provisions were already in Section 18 of the Act with respect to anticipatory bail. Concerning the applicability of provisions of Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure, it shall not apply to the cases under Act of 1989. However, if the complaint does not make out a prima facie case for applicability of the provisions of the Act of 1989, the bar created by Section 18 and 18A(i) shall not apply - The court can, in exceptional cases, exercise power Under Section 482 Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing the cases to prevent misuse of provisions on settled parameters, as already observed while deciding the review petitions. The legal position is clear, and no argument to the contrary has been raised. The challenge to the provisions has been rendered academic - Petition disposed off. As per S. Ravindra Bhat, J. HELD THAT:- It is important to keep oneself reminded that while sometimes (perhaps mostly in urban areas) false accusations are made, those are not necessarily reflective of the prevailing and wide spread social prejudices against members of these oppressed classes. Significantly, the amendment of 2016, in the expanded definition of 'atrocity', also lists pernicious practices (Under Section 3) including forcing the eating of inedible matter, dumping of excreta near the homes or in the neighbourhood of members of such communities and several other forms of humiliation, which members of such scheduled caste communities are subjected to. All these considerations far outweigh the Petitioners' concern that innocent individuals would be subjected to what are described as arbitrary processes of investigation and legal proceedings, without adequate safeguards. The right to a trial with all attendant safeguards are available to those Accused of committing offences under the Act; they remain unchanged by the enactment of the amendment. As far as the provision of Section 18A and anticipatory bail is concerned, the judgment of Mishra, J, has stated that in cases where no prima facie materials exist warranting arrest in a complaint, the court has the inherent power to direct a pre-arrest bail. It is important to reiterate and emphasize that unless provisions of the Act are enforced in their true letter and spirit, with utmost earnestness and dispatch, the dream and ideal of a casteless society will remain only a dream, a mirage. The marginalization of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities is an enduring exclusion and is based almost solely on caste identities. It is to address problems of a segmented society, that express provisions of the Constitution which give effect to the idea of fraternity, or bandhutva referred to in the Preamble, and statutes like the Act, have been framed. Petition disposed off.
|