A city court, while discharging three members of a family under the provision of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has said one cannot be prosecuted for hurling cattiest abuses at a person from Scheduled Caste or Tribe unless it is proved that the incident took place in “full public view.
Additional sessions judge Rajnish Bhatnagar observed, “From the bare reading of this section, it is apparent that the alleged abuses must have been given by the accused to the complainant in full ‘public view’. In order to bring home the point that this ingredient is not fulfilled even if the allegations are found to be correct though the abuses have not been given in full public view.”
It, however, clarified the accused, which included man, his wife and their son, be tried by a magisterial court under the IPC for allegedly hurting the complainant and wrongfully restraining him.
Initially, the accused were also charged for insulting and humiliating a member of scheduled caste member in violation of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “From the statement of complainant, it appears that when the incident took place, the complainant and only accused party were present at the spot and what transpired between them has not been alleged to have taken place within full public view,” the judge said.