Police issue notice, ask youth to produce ‘high-caste witnesses’

ASI’S SON ASSAULTED, ALLEGES ‘CASTE-BASED SLURS’

DAYS AFTER the son of an assistant sub-inspector filed a complaint accusing two men of assaulting up and using “castebased slurs” against him, the policestationwherethefirwasregistered has issued a notice to the youth, asking him to bring “two independent witnesses from a higher caste” to invoke the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused.

The 19-year-old Dalit boy, identified as Jatin, a student of St Stephen’s College, was assaulted by two men after an accident in Karawal Nagar on January 2. In the FIR, he alleged that the accused used “caste-based slurs” against him.

While DCP (northeast district) A K Singla said such a notice was required to invoke the SC/ST Act, his senior officers disagreed and said the notice is “irregular”.

The notice, titled “Order to produce document or article under 91 CRPC”, is undersigned by ASI Harbir Singh — the investigating officer in the case.

It stated, “Shrimanji, aapko is notice ke madhyam se suchit kiya jaata hai ki aap mukadma darj mein accidental gaadi number... ko thaanemeinpeshkarein.waaapko apne poorv diye bayan ke satyapan ke liye kisi do anya swatantra gawah, jo High Caste hon, two din ke ander thaane mein pesh karein. Wa apna SC ka certificate pesh karein. (In connection with the case filed, we are informing you thatthevehicleinvolvedintheaccident must be produced at the police station. To verify the authenticity of your previous statement, two independent witnesses belonging to high caste should be produced in the next twodays.produceyourscheduled Caste (SC) certificate as well).”

While ASI Singh said he had informed his superiors before sending the notice, he was unable to verify if this is the protocol. “This is the rule... please speak to the ACP for further clarifications,” he said. The ACP of the area and the SHO of Karawal Nagar were unavailable for comments.

Stating that this is the procedurefollowedinsuchcases,singla said, “If the victim produces two independent high-caste witnesses, then the Act may be invoked. This is the requirement.”

However, JCP (eastern range) Satish Golcha said this is not required.“thisisnottheprocedure; it has to be verified,” he said. Delhi Police spokesperson, JCP Dependrapathak,alsosaidthereis noneedtobringintwoindependentwitnessesforinvokingtheact.

P L Punia, MP and former chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Caste, said, “When a caste-based slur is used, the SC/ST Act should automatically be invoked.”

After the The Indian Express reported the incident on Sunday, one of the accused was arrested and later released on bail.