In a petition filed before the Himachal Pradesh High Court seeking pre-arrest bail, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Rakesh Kainthla held that the petition was not maintainable because of the bar contained in Section 18 of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC & ST Act) and thus, dismissed the same.
A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against the petitioner for offences punishable under Sections 107, 127(2), and 115(2) read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS). A status report was filed by the police, which mentioned that Sections 3(2)(v) and 3(2)(va) of the SC & ST Act, were also added.
The Court perused the status report and stated that after investigation, the police found that the 11-year-old deceased belonged to a scheduled caste community, whereas the 50-year-old petitioner did not belong to the same community. The petitioner demanded a goat from the deceased for the purification of her house and admitted that she had confined the child inside her cowshed.
The FIR mentioned that the deceased informed his mother that the accused, along with other women, had beaten him and said that since he had touched her house, she would not release him unless a sacrificial goat was given to her for purification of her house.
The Court noted that the offence was committed because of the caste of the deceased and therefore said that it was not possible to conclude that the petitioner had prima facie not committed an offence under the SC & ST Act. Thus, the Court held that the State’s objection had to be upheld and accordingly dismissed the petition as non-maintainable.
Appearances:
For Petitioner – Ms. Suman Thakur
For Respondent – Mr. Jitender K. Sharma
For Complainant – Mr. Ankush Dass Sood, Mr. R.R. Rahi
