Scheduled Castes/ Tribes: crimes against, and prevention of

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Misuse of SC/ST Act

From the archives of The Times of India 2010

Misuse of SC/ST Act annoys court

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Expressing concern over rising incidents of the misuse of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to settle personal scores, a trial court has told police the final report in such cases should be examined at a higher level before they are filed. The court’s observations came while discharging nine members of a family, including five women, from charges under the Act for allegedly using abusive words against their tenants, who belonged to the SC category.

‘‘Unfortunately, one comes across growing instances where the provisions of this Act have not so much been invoked for the betterment of those whom it seeks to protect than by those who want to settle personal scores by giving to an otherwise ordinary dispute the colour of an alleged atrocity under the Act,’’ additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said. The court observed that the provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, meant to protect the lot of the exploited sections, should not be allowed to be misused.

In this case, the court noted that complainant Kanaklata (30), a postgraduate in philosophy from Delhi University, had changed her statement before the police on May 4, 2008 and invoked the provisions of the SC/ST Act against the family members of her landlord after talking to her lawyer. ‘‘I find that the present case is a glaring example of abuse of a special legislation with stringent provisions which has been enacted to ameliorate the lot of the hitherto, underprivileged, deprived and marginalized section of the society,’’ ASJ Lau said.

The court said Kanaklata had spared no one as she had in her improved version of the complaint roped in the entire family of Om Prakash Grover, a senior citizen. She further implicated the brother of the landlord Ved Prakash, his wife and his daughterin-law who did not even reside in the same house and are residents of another property in Mukherjee Nagar, it added.

The court also pulled up the police for failing to properly conduct the probe. ‘‘Though the investigations have been conducted by an assistant commissioner of police, it is rather unfortunate that he allowed himself to play into the hands of the complainant rather than independently examine the material before him in an unbiased manner and strictly enforce the provisions of law,’’ it said. The court recommended that before any final report in the case of SC/ST Act was filed, it is monitored and examined at a higher level.