Gujarat High Court
Nitaben W/O Kishorbhai Falke vs State Of Gujarat on 1 May, 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/CRIMINAL REVISION APPLICATION (AGAINST ORDER
PASSED BY SUBORDINATE COURT) NO. 295 of 2020
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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NITABEN W/O KISHORBHAI FALKE & ORS.
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR MANTHAN K BHATT(6549) for the Applicant(s) No.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
MR SHASHIKANT S GADE(1706) for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR ROHAN H. RAVAL, APP for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR
Date : 01/05/2026
JUDGMENT
1) By way of present revision application under Sections 397 and 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the applicants have sought following relief:-
"(A) Your Lordship may be pleased to quash and set aside the impugned order dated 18/11/2019, below Exh.11 in Atrocity Case No.54 of 2018 by Ld. (Special Atrocity Cases Court) 15th Add. Sessions Court, Vadodara; further, please to pass necessary order and direction of quashing and setting aside the "Charges of section 3 (2) (5-A), 3(1)(R) (S) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026 undefined (Prevention of Atrocity Act), 2015" against present petitioners, levelled in the Charge - Sheet No. I-69/2018 (Ann-B) dated 04/05/2018 (by Karelibag Police Station, Vadodara).
2) Brief facts of the present case are that one FIR being I-
C.R.No.69/2018, came to be registered for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 323 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act read with Sections 3(1)(R) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, (which shall hereinafter be referred to as "Atrocities Act" for short). After completion of investigation, charge-sheet came to be filed against 11 accused for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 323 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act read with Sections 3 (2) (5-A) and 3(1)(R)(S) of the Atrocities Act. The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vadodara considering the charges of the Act committed the case to the special Atrocity Court as envisaged under Section 209 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (which shall hereinafter be referred to as "the Code"
for short). The learned Sessions Court, Vadodara has registered the case and numbered as Atrocity Case No.54 of 2018. Thereafter, the accused appeared and preferred a discharge application at Exhibit 11 under Section 227 of the Code and Page 2 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026 undefined prayed to discharge the applicant nos.2 to 9 as they belongs to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Community (which shall hereinafter be referred to as "SC/ST Community" for short) and further the offence alleged under the Act have been committed by the accused nos.1 and 2. Thereafter, the learned 15th Additional Sessions Court, Vadodara, has been pleased to reject the discharge application at Exhibit 11, vide order dated 18.11.2019. Being aggrieved with and dissatisfied by the same the applicants have preferred the present revision application.
3) Heard learned Advocate Mr. Manthan K. Bhatt for the applicant nos.1 to 9, learned APP Mr. Rohan H. Raval, for the respondent
- State and learned Advocate Mr. Shashikant S. Gade, for the respondent no.2.
4) Perusing the record it appears that the charge-sheet is filed against the applicants and other accused for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 323 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act read with Sections 3 (2) (5-A) and 3(1)(R)(S) of the Atrocities Act. Further perusing the charge-sheet and investigation papers it appears that the allegation of the Atrocities Act are levelled against the accused no.1 - Ketan Kishorbhai Falke and accused no.2 - Chandrakant Kishorbhai Falke are not before this Court but the remaining accused i.e. - Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026
NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026 undefined applicant nos.2 to 9 are before this Court who have submitted that the learned trial Court has committed error in rejecting the discharge application at Exhibit 11 more particularly on the ground that the applicants are also belongs to SC/ST Community and their Certificates are also produced on record. As the accused nos.4 to 11 are belongs to SC/ST Community. Hence, offence under Atrocities Act is not made out against the accused to invoke the provision of Atrocities Act. As per Section 3 of the Atrocities Act, whoever not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe against them the offence under Atrocities Act is made out. In the present case the applicants are belongs to SC/ST Community and therefore no offence is made out against the present applicants hence up to that extent learned Sessions Judge has committed error in rejecting the discharge application. The object of the discharge application is to provide safeguard where prima facie fact appears to proceed against the accused is a lack of the grounds then pre-trial safeguard is required to be exercised and it is unsafe to put the accused on trial which cause undue harassment to the accused. Therefore, up to that extent the applicants belong to SC/ST community is undisputed.
5) Furthermore, to invoke the provision of the Atrocities Act the victim should be a person, who belongs to Scheduled Caste or Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026 undefined Scheduled Tribe and that the offence under the IPC is committed against such victim on the basis that such a person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe. In absence of such ingredients, no offence under Section 3(2)(v) of the Act can be said to be committed. In this regard reference is required to be made in the case of Asmathunnisa Vs. State of A.P reported in AIR 2011 SC 1905 and Ashabai Machindra Adhagale Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. reported in (2009) 3 SCC 789, wherein, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has concluded that the complainant is required to allege that the accused is not a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, then only on fulfilling other ingredients of the alleged offence is made out. Perusing the record it appears that the applicant nos.2 to 9 are member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and in view of Gorige Pentaiah Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh reported in (2008) 12 SCC 531, present application deserves consideration.
6) In view of the above, no offence is made out under the Atrocities Act against the applicant nos.2 to 9 and they are required to be discharged only for the offences under Sections 3 (2) (5-A) and 3(1)(R)(S) of the Atrocities Act.
7) Accordingly, the present revision application is disposed of being Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026 NEUTRAL CITATION R/CR.RA/295/2020 JUDGMENT DATED: 01/05/2026 undefined partly allowed. The order dated 18.11.2019 below Exhibit 11, in Special Atrocity Case No.54 of 2018, passed by the 15th Additional Sessions Judge and Special Judge (Atrocities Cases) Vadodara, is quashed and set aside up to above extent and the discharge application at Exhibit 11, under Section 227 of the Code, filed by the applicants is hereby partly allowed qua applicant nos.2 to 9 herein and the applicant nos.2 to 9 are discharged from the offences punishable under Sections 3 (2) (5-A) and 3(1)(R)(S) of the Atrocities Act only.
8) Further, it is clarified that the applicant nos.2 to 9 shall be put on trial under the Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 323 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act.
9) Record and proceedings, if any, be sent back to the concerned Court forthwith.
(HASMUKH D. SUTHAR,J) ANKIT JANSARI Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by ANKIT YOGESHBHAI JANSARI(HCW0109) on Sat May 02 2026 Downloaded on : Tue May 05 02:43:44 IST 2026