Bijendra and Others vs State of Uttarakhand and Others

Umesh Chandra Dhyani, J.—A first information report dated 19.04.2015 was lodged against the writ petitioners registered as Case Crime No. 127 of 2015, for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 504, 506, 307 of IPC and Section 3 (1) (X) of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Aggrieved against the same, present Criminal Writ Petition has been filed by the writ petitioners.

Learned counsel for the writ petitioners confined his prayer only to the extent that no offence under Section 3 (1) (X) of the SC/ST Act is made out against the writ petitioners, even on bare reading of the contents of the first information report.

Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that even if the contents of the FIR be conceded to be true, no ingredients of Section 3 (1) (X) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are prima facie made out against the petitioners, in the sense that informant nowhere said that the accused themselves were not a member of SC/ST and they used those words intentionally in order to humiliate him (victim) in a place within the public view knowing it that he (victim) belonged to a community of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, as was held by the Hon''ble Supreme Court in Gorige Pentaiah Vs. State of A.P. and Others, (2008) CLT 1305 : (2009) CriLJ 350 : (2008) 9 JT 543 : (2008) 11 SCALE 715 : (2008) 12 SCC 531 : (2008) 18 VST 247 .

On perusal of the first information report, foundation of offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323,324, 504, 506 and 307 of IPC is, prima facie, laid against the petitioners. No prima facie case under the Section 3 (1) (X) of SC/ST Act is made out against them (petitioners), in view of Gorige Pentaiah''s case (supra), wherein, in paragraph no. 6, it was observed by Hon''ble Apex Court as under:

"In the instant case, the allegation of respondent No. 3 in the entire complaint is that on 27.5.2004, the appellant abused them with the name of their caste. According to the basic ingredients of Section 3(1)(x) of the Act, the complainant ought to have alleged that the accused-appellant was not a member of the Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and he (respondent No. 3) was intentionally insulted or intimidated by the accused with intent to humiliate in a place within public view. In the entire complaint, nowhere it is mentioned that the accused-appellant was not a member of the Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and he intentionally insulted or intimidated with intent to humiliate respondent No. 3 in a place within public view. When the basic ingredients of the offence are missing in the complaint, then permitting such a complaint to continue and to compel the appellant to face the rigmarole of the criminal trial would be totally unjustified leading to abuse of process of law."

Prima facie, offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 504, 506 and 307 of IPC are made out against the present petitioners on seeing of the FIR, but the offence under Section 3 (1) (X) of the SC/ST Act is not made out in view of Gorige Pentaiah''s ruling.

Present Criminal Writ Petition is, therefore, partly allowed to the extent of exclusion of Section 3 (1) (X) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 only. In other words, the investigating officer shall investigate the case against the petitioners, but he is not bothered to investigate the same from the point of view of Section 3 (1) (X) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Present Criminal Writ Petition is therefore, dismissed in so far as the implication of the petitioners for the offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code are concerned.

The investigating officer shall, however, not be influenced by the observations of this Court that prima facie, offences punishable under Indian Penal Code are made out against the petitioners.