BOMBAY HIGH COURT GRANTED BAIL TO ACCUSED IN ATROCITES CASE
Merely calling a person by his caste name may amount to insult or abuse to him, but it cannot be said to be with intent to humiliate such persons. There must be intentional insults or intimidation with intent to humiliate members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view.
The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court comprising of Hon’ble justice Urmila Joshi Phalke has granted bail to accused Murari Baburao Samrutwar R/o. of Chandrapur in the offence registered under the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act , 1989. One Sangita Gunwant Meshram lodged the report with police station Durgapur district Chandrapur against Murari Samrutwar alleging that the Murari Samrutwar is working as a supervisor. When the first informant Sangita Meshram inquired about the work the accused Murari Samrutwar humiliated the first informant and others by referring there caste and insulted them. On the basis of report, the offence under section 294, 506 of IPC and section 3(1) (r), 3(1) (s) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 came to be registered. The accused approached before the Hon’ble Sessions court by filing the application for grant of anticipatory bail however, the same came to be rejected by the Hon’ble Sessions Court as there is a bar under section 18 of the Atrocities Act. The Hon’ble High Court has observed that ‘Merely calling a person by his caste name may amount to insult or abuse to him, but it cannot be said to be with intent to humiliate such persons. There must be intentional insults or intimidation with intent to humiliate members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view.’ The HC observes that in the present case the ingredients of section 3(1) (r), 3(1) (s) of Atrocities Act are not satisfied therefore bar under section 18 is not attracted. ADVOCATE I.S. CHARLEWAR appeared for the appellant MR. HULKE appeared for the State and MR. A. M GEDAM appeared for the first informant Sangita Meshram.
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