SC/ST Act grants protection in any part of the country, says Bombay High Court

In a significant ruling the Bombay High Court has asserted that the reach of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act extends beyond an individuals state of origin The court emphasized that limiting the Acts jurisdiction based on an individuals state recognition would defeat its intended purposeA full bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere Bharati Dangre and N J Jamadar in their judgment underlined that the Act was enacted to prevent atrocities against Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities Its primary objective is to eradicate the humiliation and harassment these communities have historically faced while safeguarding their fundamental socioeconomic and political rightsThe bench in its order held that the scope of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act cannot be limited to the state where a person is declared as a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communityldquoThe person is also entitled protection under the Act in any other part of the country where the offence is committed though he is not recognised as Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe thererdquo the court saidThe full bench also held that all appeals filed under the Act irrespective of the punishment shall lie within the jurisdiction of the single bench of the high courtThe court in its order said caste automatically sticks to a person since he or she is born to two persons belonging to that caste or groupAlso readINDIA bloc is a formidable player and cannot only challenge but defeat the NDA Raghav ChadhaldquoA person has no choice It is not possible for the person to get rid of the baggage of his or her caste though he or she may come out of the occupational grouping or from the social status of that particular caste and become socially and economically forward surpassing his peers in the casterdquo the bench saidldquoThe label attached to a person born into a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe may continue notwithstanding his personal upliftment his social upliftment by his own good deeds but he does not lose his identity and selfhood as he has once upon a time suffered the sting and disadvantages though he has travelled ahead in liferdquo it addedThe Atrocities Act came to be enacted when it was realised that whenever members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes assert rights made available to them under the Constitution and demand statutory protection they are intimidated cowed down and disillusioned and even terrorised and made to suffer ignominy the court saidIt added that persons from these castes have been subjected to brutal incidents depriving them of their right and property and they were made to undergo indignities humiliation and harassmentldquoThe creation of casteless society where a person deserves equal treatment is the ultimate dream to be achieved for an independent India so that one class of human exists and all the citizens of the country are emancipated and treated equally as what the Constitution makers dreamt ofrdquo it saidSenior counsel Abhinav Chandrachud appearing for some of the petitioners argued that the offence under the Atrocities Act would not be attracted if the person victim had migrated from his or her state of origin to another stateAdvocate General Birendra Saraf however opposed arguing that the baggage of caste continues to be retained by a person and since the statute intends to offer protection from atrocities committed against a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe the offence under the Act would be attracted irrespective of migrationThe bench while refusing to accept the petitioners case said ldquothe argument that caste shall be limited to the boundaries of a State would be a mythrdquoldquoThe Atrocities Act is entitled to protect the human dignity of the members belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe and in no case deserves a restricted or constricted meaning confining their status only to a particular Staterdquo the judgment saidThe high court added that it would be committing a ldquoserious flaw if it adopts a narrow and pedantic construction which would stultify the intent of the law and impede its implementationrdquoRestricting the identity of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe to the state of origin will defeat the fundamental rights of the Constitution as it will then bind the person to their state of origin with no chance to progress themselves by stepping outsideldquoThis definitely would cause more harm to the identified class than advancing them to compete with members of the higher class and assisting them in achieving equality as enshrined in the Constitutionrdquo the court saidThe full bench in its judgment noted that the prevailing caste system in India is a ldquopeculiar and complex thingrdquoIt noted that the traditionbound caste system intricately had within its embryo the institution of untouchability which divided the Hindus influenced their thought process and deeply imprinted in their mind the suppression and enslavement of humanity by strongly harbouring a traditional belief of defiling by contacting the person having food or drinking water with him by a member of higher caste and hence degrading the class of untouchables undertaking menial workThe bench said history reflects that by practicing untouchability the upper caste kept the lower strata of the society at a distance and looked down upon them in the social structureldquoNo matter what form the practice of untouchability assumes it amounts to a degrading appellation for the people concernedrdquo the court saidThe intention of the Act was to check and deter crimes committed against a class and that it was not a legislation that confers any benefits or privileges but is an enactment to prevent them from being subjected to various offensive acts indignities humiliation and harassment on account of various historical social and economic reason With inputs from PTI