Scheduled Castes/ Tribes: crimes against, and prevention of
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Misuse of SC/ST Act
From the archives of The Times of India 2010
Misuse of SC/ST Act annoys court
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Expressing concern over rising incidents of the misuse of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to settle personal scores, a trial court has told police the final report in such cases should be examined at a higher level before they are filed. The court’s observations came while discharging nine members of a family, including five women, from charges under the Act for allegedly using abusive words against their tenants, who belonged to the SC category.
‘‘Unfortunately, one comes across growing instances where the provisions of this Act have not so much been invoked for the betterment of those whom it seeks to protect than by those who want to settle personal scores by giving to an otherwise ordinary dispute the colour of an alleged atrocity under the Act,’’ additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said. The court observed that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, meant to protect the lot of the exploited sections, should not be allowed to be misused.
In this case, the court noted that complainant Kanaklata (30), a postgraduate in philosophy from Delhi University, had changed her statement before the police on May 4, 2008 and invoked the provisions of the SC/ST Act against the family members of her landlord after talking to her lawyer. ‘‘I find that the present case is a glaring example of abuse of a special legislation with stringent provisions which has been enacted to ameliorate the lot of the hitherto, underprivileged, deprived and marginalized section of the society,’’ ASJ Lau said.
The court said Kanaklata had spared no one as she had in her improved version of the complaint roped in the entire family of Om Prakash Grover, a senior citizen. She further implicated the brother of the landlord Ved Prakash, his wife and his daughterin-law who did not even reside in the same house and are residents of another property in Mukherjee Nagar, it added.
The court also pulled up the police for failing to properly conduct the probe. ‘‘Though the investigations have been conducted by an assistant commissioner of police, it is rather unfortunate that he allowed himself to play into the hands of the complainant rather than independently examine the material before him in an unbiased manner and strictly enforce the provisions of law,’’ it said. The court recommended that before any final report in the case of SC/ST Act was filed, it is monitored and examined at a higher level.
Non-invasive sexual harassment: medical examination
The Times of India, May 09 2016
No med test for SCST survivors of non-invasive sexual crimes
The government has scrapped an over 20-yearold provision of conducting medical examination in cases of non-invasive sexual harassment like gestures or acts intended to outrage the modesty of women and stalking against SC and ST survivors to enable them get quicker relief.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Rules, 2016, notified recently, also has a provision of increased relief to survivors ranging from Rs 85,000 to Rs 8.25 lakh from the earlier Rs 75,000-7.5 lakh.
Earlier 50% of the amount was paid after medical exami nation and the remaining sum at the conclusion of the trial, according to a senior official from the ministry of social justice and empowerment. “The new Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 which came into force on January 26, included a series of new offences following which the rules had to be modified.Under the new rules, separate provision of relief for offences of rape and gang-rape were introduced,“ the official said.
“These offences fall under the category of invasive offences. Offences like assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty , use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking -which fall under non-invasive category -have also been specifically mentioned.Now, in cases of non-invasive offences, we have done away with the medical examination part,“ the official added.
2016: Tougher measures against atrocities
The Times of India, Apr 24 2016
Stricter penalty for atrocities on SC|STs
A day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme at Jamshedpur to mark the end of a 10-day initiative to commemorate Babasaheb Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary , the government announced new and tougher measures against atrocities targeting Dalits and tribals while also significantly increasing the compensation.
“The rules speed up process of dispensation of justice to victims of atrocities, are strongly sensitive in cases of offenses against women, and liberalise and expedite access to relief for SC and ST victims,“ an official note said.
The provisions announced include completion of investigation and filing of charge-sheet in the court within 60 days and specific relief measures for offences of rape and gang-rape that have been introduced for the first time.
The measures as well as the efforts to commemorate the Dalit icon are seen in the light of the flak BJP received in the wake the Rohith Vemula suicide in which party members and the saffron students' wing were accused of instigating action against the student.
The political battle over claiming Ambedkar's legacy has seen BJP and Congress engage in a war of words and the PM's decision to launch the campaign on April 14 as well as conclude it with the Panchayati Raj Day on April 24, when he is to address gram sabhas, is seen as part of a concerted effort to woo the electorally crucial Dalits.
The new rules delink the requirement of medical examination for receiving relief for non-invasive offences against women like sexual harassment, gestures or acts intended to “insult women, assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe, voyeurism and stalking“, the note said.
The specific reference to crimes like forcible disrobing is significant as tonsuring and parading the victims naked is a particular offence relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The relief amount is being hiked from Rs 75,000-Rs 7,50,000 to Rs 85,000-Rs 8,25,000 and is being linked to the consumer price index for industrial workers for January , 2016.
Relief in cash or kind is to be made available within seven days of a crime and there will be regular reviews of schemes for the rights and entitlements of victims witnesses at state and district levels.
Social media slurs on SC|ST punishable: HC
Abhinav Garg|Social media slurs on SC|ST punishable: HC|Jul 04 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Any offensive post on social media targeting an individual of the SC ST community , even if made in a closed group, is punishable, the Delhi high court said Monday . In a key ruling that plugs the gap between online abusers and their prosecution, the HC made it clear that Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, will apply if a casteist slur is made against a person from these communities. Though the judgment came in reference to a Facebook “Wall“, the ruling can extend to other social media outlets such as WhatsApp. “When a member registered with Facebook changes the privacy settings to `public' from `private', it makes hisher writings on the `wall' accessible not only to other members who are befriended by the author, but also by any other member registered with Facebook. However, even if privacy set tings are retained by a Face book member as “private“, making of an offending post by the member which falls foul of Section under Section 3(1)(x) of the SCST Act -may still be punishable,“ Justice Vipin Sanghi noted.
The HC clarified that only exception from prosecution in these cases would be if the complainant and those connected to himher on Facebook are related to each other. Justice Sanghi pointed out that “public view“ means “a place where public per sons are present howsoever small in number they may be.“
The court also brought out the finer legal nuance and added “it would make no difference whether the privacy settings are set by the author of the offending post to “private“ or “public“ as sections of SCST Act do not require that the intentional insult or intimidation with intention to humiliate a member of the SC or ST should take place in the presence of the said member. “ The court's interpretation came while hearing a complaint by an SC woman against her cosister, a Rajput. The complainant said her co-sister was “abusing my caste on social network sites Facebook“ and that she used bad words for Dhobi's“.
In her defence, the Rajput woman maintained that her FB posts, even if assumed to be true, have been posted on her wall and do not disclose intentional insult against any individual. The accused also argued that in her posts she never took the name of her cosister who has no basis to be offended since the posts were directed against the females of the `Dhobi' community in general, and not against any specific individual.Lastly, she also defended her ac tion by arguing that her Facebook wall is a private space and no one has a right to barge into it by stealth only to feel offended.
Appearing for the prosecution, additional standing counsel Nandita Rao, told the court that offence under the SCST Act is made out, as the Rajput woman had knowingly posted on FB to insult her Dalit co-sister. Justice Sanghi granted relief and quashed the FIR by agreeing that generalised statements against all and sundry , and not against specific individual belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe,would not make out an offence.
