APEX COURT CANCELS BAIL OF MAN FOR INSULT TO SC WOMAN

The Supreme Court has cancelled bail granted to a man for insulting a Scheduled Caste (SC) woman after she resisted their attempts to molest her, saying no person or community should be looked down upon and nobody’s feelings should be hurt.

A bench of justices RK Agrawal and Ashok Bhushan quashed a Patna high court order that restrained the police from arresting Omkarjit Singh Ahluwalia and two others who were booked for calling the victims “harijan” and “dhobi.” The bench said there was “every likelihood” that the accused would misuse their liberty while on anticipatory bail to terrorise the woman and prevent proper investigation.

“The use of the words ‘harijan’ ‘dhobi’ etc. is often used by people belonging to the so-called upper castes as a word of insult, abuse and derision,” said the bench, referring to the Constitution that has abolished untouchability.

The judges noted such offences were committed to humiliate members of SCs and Scheduled Tribes (STs) with a view to keep them in a state of servitude. The special law – Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act – enforced to deal with such offences creates a bar for granting anticipatory bail because the violations constitute a separate class and cannot be compared with the Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences.

In the present case the victim had approached the top court against the HC order.