False case an atrocity under ST Act

In a significant ruling recently, the Bombay High Court held framing a person belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) category will amount to an offence punishable under the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention Act).

A single-judge bench of Justice Anant Badar said, “Instituting false, malicious or vexatious legal proceedings against a member of the SC or ST amounts to atrocities. Similarly, giving any false and frivolous information to any public servant to enable the said public servant to use his lawful powers

to injure or annoy a member of SC/ST also amounts to an offence of atrocities.”

“Thus, for making out the offences under this law, the prosecution is required to make out a prima facie case of instituting a false, malicious

or vexatious legal proceedings against a member of the SC ST as well as furnishing false or frivolous information to any public servant against such members,” Justice Badar held.

The bench was hearing a plea by a lady professor of a Pune-based college challenging a lower court verdict, which denied her anticipatory bail. The professor was booked by the Pune police in consonance with a complaint by a college store keeper, belonging to a reserved category.

The store keeper had accused the professor of harassing him by filing a false sexual abuse case under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. He claimed she filed a false complaint only to settle scores with him.

He had filed an FIR against the professor, who was later denied anticipatory bail by a lower court. Having considered the submissions, Justice Badar noted the complaint by the professor against the store keeper under sexual harassment act were probed by a committee. “There is no pronouncement by the committee that the complaint by the professor is false, malicious or vexatious. On the contrary, the panel concluded the complaint by the professor is not in respect of sexual harassment, but it’s in respect of misbehaviour and misconduct of the store keeper, a subordinate with superiors,” Justice Badar noted.

Accordingly, the professor got the anticipatory bail.

The bench was hearing a plea by a lady professor of a Punebased college challenging a lower court verdict, which denied her anticipatory bail. The professor was booked by the Pune police in consonance with a complaint by a college store keeper, belonging to a reserved category.

— JUSTICE ANANT BADAR, Bombay HC