Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Act

Why in NEWS ?

• All insults or intimidations to persons belonging to Dalit or tribal communities will not be an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Supreme Court said in a judgment.

About

• Supreme Court held that not every offending remark against a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe will amount to an offence unless there is an intention to humiliate for the reason that the victim belongs to such caste.
• An offence is made out under the statute only if the insults or intimidations were made on account of the victim belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
• The court said the object of the Act is to punish the violators who inflict indignities, humiliations and harassment.
• It is intended to punish the acts of the upper caste against the vulnerable section of the society for the reason that they belong to a particular community,” the judgment noted.
• The bench said that the SC/ST Act is intended to punish the acts of upper caste against the vulnerable sections of the society for the reason that they belong to a particular community, and that the basic ingredients of the offence under Section 3(1)(r) of the Act can be classified as-
  1. Intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and
  2. In any place within public view.
• The court was hearing an appeal filed by a man, Hitesh Verma, booked under the Act for allegedly abusing a Dalit woman in her house.
• The court found that allegations against Verma do not fulfil the basic ingredient under the Act that such humiliation should have happened in public view.
• Since the incident occurred within four walls in the absence of members of the public, allegations against Verma under the Act do not stand. He can be tried under ordinary criminal law.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

• The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 or the Prevention of Atrocities Act was passed in 1989 by the Parliament to prevent atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• The law listed down the forms of cruelty which was inflicted upon lower-caste people.
• The agenda behind the law was to abolish untouchability and prevent atrocities against Dalits.
• The Act penalized casteist insults and even denies anticipatory bail to the accused (suspected) and therefore, it can be easily used to accuse a person merely on the unilateral word of the complainant.

Constitutional provisions against atrocities

Indian Constitution, Indian Parliament, and various state legislatures have stringent provisions against atrocities targeting SCs or STs.

• Article 17 seeks to abolish ‘untouchability’. The institution of ‘untouchability’ refers not just to the avoidance or prohibition of physical contact but to a much broader set of social sanctions.
• Article 46 – promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs, and other weaker sections of the society and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation.
• Article 338 – National Commission for Scheduled Castes(NCSC)- Its functions include among others:
  i. investigate and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the SCs and to evaluate their working;
  ii. inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the SCs;
• Article 338-A – National Commission for Scheduled Tribes(NCST)- Its functions are same as that of NCSC, but with respect to ST than SC.