Stop immediate arrest of public servants under SC/ST act cases: Supreme Court
New Delhi, March 20: To stop misuse of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe act, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that there shall be no immediate arrest in cases lodged under SC/ST Act against public servants.
The judgment states, “no arrest may be effected, if an accused person is a public servant, without written permission of the appointing authority and if such a person is not a public servant, without written permission of the Senior Superintendent of Police of the District.”
The judgment was rendered by a Bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit in an appeal against a judgment of the Bombay High Court, which had refused to quash the prosecution of one Subhash Kashinath Mahajan, who is the Director of Technical Education.
The bench, which passed a slew of directions, said a public servant can be arrested in cases lodged under SC/ST Act only after prior approval by the competent authority.
Top Court also said there is no absolute bar in granting anticipatory bail in cases lodged against public servants under SC/ST Act.
Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to prevent atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Act is popularly known as POA, the SC/ST Act, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or simply the Atrocities Act.
Under this Act, below are considered as Atrocities against SC/ST and Punishment for offences of atrocities -
Whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine. -
i. forces a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance
ii. acts with intent to cause injury, insult or annoyance to any member of a Scheduled Caste, or a Scheduled Tribe by dumping excreta, waste matter, carcasses or any other obnoxious substance in his premises or neighbourhood;
iii. forcibly removes clothes from the person of a member of a Schedul-ed Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or parades him naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity
iv. wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to, or notified by any competent authority to be allotted to, a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or gets the land allotted to him transferred;
v. wrongfully dispossesses a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe from his land or premises or interferes with the enjoyment of his rights over any land, premises or water
vi. compels or entices a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to do 'begar' or other similar forms of forced or bonded labour other than any compulsory service for public purposes imposed by Government
vii. forces or intimidates a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe not to vote or to vote to a particular candidate or to vote in a manner other than that provided by law
viii. institutes false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings against a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe
ix. gives any false or frivolous information to any public servant and thereby causes such public servant to use his lawful power to the injury or annoyance of a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe
x. intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view
xi. assaults or uses force to any woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe with intent to dishonour or outrage her modesty
xii. being in a position to dominate the will of a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and uses that position to exploit her sexually to which she would not have otherwise agreed
xiii. corrupts or fouls the water of any spring, reservoir or any other source ordinarily used by members of the Scheduled Castes or a Scheduled Tribes so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used
xiv. denies a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe any customary right of passage to a place of public resort or obstructs such member so as to prevent him from using or having access to a place of public resort to which other members of public or any section thereof have a right to use or access to
xv. forces or causes a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to leave his house, village or other place of residence.