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The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has clarified that casteist slurs made through mobile phone against a member of the Scheduled caste community does not introduce any offence as per the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes ( prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The high court was of the opinion that saying of wrong words on the phone and in the absence of any kind of public view “does not exhibit any mens rea or intention to humiliate the person who is complaining.”
Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill of the HC passed the concerned order on Friday while putting aside an FIR, framing of charges and charge sheet against two individuals from kurukshetra in Haryana. The duo had supposedly used offensive language against the sarpanch of their village on mobile phone.
“Furthermore, basic elements of the offence mentioned in the FIR are that there ought to be intentional abuse, secondly the abuse should be done in a public place within the view of public, which is absent in the case. Therefore, the basic elements, which must be satisfied, are not found in this case. In view of the fact that these are penal proviso, the same are to be presented with a strict construction and if any of the elements are not found, it would not lead to offence as per the SC/ST Act,” examined Justice Gill while vindicating the petitioners.
The judge also cleared that if two kinds of views are possible & one of them increases suspicion only as differentiated from severe suspicion , the judge for the trial will have the authority to release the accused and at that point of time , it is not be perceived whether the trial will result in acquittal or conviction.
The accused in the matter requested the high court, putting forward that the accusations against them do not come under the proviso of the SC/ST Act as the phone call is not in public view.
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