Atrocities Act can’t be used just because ‘Victim’ is SC/ST: High Court

An offence under section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 cannot be invoked in a charge sheet merely because the alleged victim of the crime belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the High Court of Karnataka has said in a recent order.

“It is not as though in every crime, if victim happens to be a member of the SC or ST, an offence under section 3 of the act has been committed. If the motive for crime is not casteist, the accused can only be chargesheeted for any of the offences under the Indian Penal Code,” Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar has observed in his order. The act is meant to protect SCs or STs from atrocity or oppression, the judge said, & can’t be allowed to be misused. “Therefore, there is greater responsibility on the investigating officer to take a decision wisely before filing the chargesheet,” the order said while quashing proceedings initiated against a petitioner before a city special Court.

In this case, the judge noted that no offence of atrocity appears to have taken place. The offences were under sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to avoidance of summons.

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