The Supreme Court has held that private utterances of casteist slurs do not meet the statutory requirement for being considered an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that casteist slurs uttered in a private setting do not constitute an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. This decision overturns an Allahabad High Court order that had upheld proceedings against a school manager for such offences. The complainant had alleged that he was assaulted by the school manager and other staff, and that casteist slurs were used against him during a meeting on January 24, 2020. The FIR filed in this matter included charges under sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Act, which pertain to intentional insult or humiliation of members of Scheduled Castes/Tribes in a public place and abusive language using caste names in a public place respectively. However, the school manager had argued that the incident took place inside a closed room without windows, not within public view, and that no witnesses testified to hearing the alleged casteist remarks. The Supreme Court agreed with these arguments and quashed the proceedings against the school manager under the Act, while noting that the case relating to other alleged offences would continue.
Source:
Scroll.in
