RANCHI: In a significant ruling, the Jharkhand High Court observed that the term ‘Adivasi’ is not a caste and quashed an FIR lodged under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against a government officer accused of calling a woman an “insane Adivasi”.Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary, while delivering the order, clarified that a person cannot be considered a member of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes unless their caste or tribe is specifically mentioned in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order or in relevant Presidential notifications.The court was hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Sunil Kumar, a Settlement Officer with the State Government, seeking the quashing of an FIR lodged in Dumka. According to the complaint, Kumar became enraged and refused to accept an RTI application from Sunita Marandi, allegedly saying, “They are insane Adivasis and they are coming to annoy,” before using obscene language, behaving indecently, and pushing her out of his office.The court noted that the only direct allegation was that the petitioner pushed the complainant out of his chamber, annoyed by her insistence on submitting the RTI application. “There was no allegation against the petitioner that he assaulted or used criminal force on the lady intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that it would outrage her modesty,” the order stated.“In the absence of essential ingredients regarding the intent of the petitioner to outrage the modesty of the informant or the petitioner knowing that his act would outrage the modesty of the informant, the Court held that even if the entire allegations against the petitioner were considered to be true in its entirety, still, the offence punishable under Section 354 IPC were not made out,” the court observed.Addressing the core of the FIR, the court said, “Now coming to the facts of the case, the only allegation against the petitioner is that he has used the word that the informant is an insane Adivasi. Now coming to Annexure-9 of this writ petition which is a document of unimpeachable character, being the copy of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 in part XXII goes to show that the caste Adivasi does not find place in the said public notification.”It further stated, “There is no allegation in the FIR that the informant belongs to any of the castes mentioned in part XXII which is applicable to the State of Jharkhand in the said Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. It is not the case of the informant that she is a member of Scheduled Castes.”“Under such circumstances, this Court finds force in the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner that, even if the entire allegation made against the petitioner are considered to be true in its entirety, still, neither the offence punishable under Section 3 (1) (r) nor the offence punishable under Section 3 (1) (s) of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is made out,” the court ruled.The bench also noted that there was “absolutely no allegation against the petitioner of obstructing the informant or preventing the informant from proceeding in the direction she has a right to proceed”.Regarding the offences under Sections 323, 504 and 506 of the IPC, the court said these were non-cognisable offences and, therefore, it would not delve into them at length.“In view of the discussions made above, as no cognisable offences punishable in law is made out against the petitioner even if the entire allegation made against him are considered to be true in its entirety, hence, this Court has no hesitation in holding that continuation of this criminal proceeding against the petitioner, who is undisputedly a public servant and the occurrence took place when he was discharging his duty as such public servant, will amount to abuse of process of law,” the court said.Therefore, the court ordered that the FIR in Dumka Sadar SC/ST P.S. Case No. 07 of 2023 be quashed and set aside.
Source link
