Mere insult to SC/ST member not offence under Atrocities Act, says Supreme Court
It is an offence if the intent was to humiliate the person based on their caste identity, the court said.
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Insulting a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe is not an offence under the 1989 Prevention of Atrocities Act, unless the intention was to humiliate their caste identity, the Supreme Court said on Friday, Live Law reported.
A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra made the remark while granting anticipatory bail to Shajan Skaria, the editor of YouTube channel Marunadan Malayalee, in a case against him for making allegedly derogatory remarks against PV Sreenijin, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA from Kerala’s Kunnathunad.
Skaria had posted a video on the alleged maladministration of a sports hostel operated by Sreenijin in his capacity as the chairman of the District Sports Council.
Sreenijin alleged that Skaria uploaded the video “with the intention to humiliate and ridicule him among the general public with the knowledge that the complainant is a member of the Pulaya community, which is a Scheduled Caste”, The Indian Express reported.
Skaria had moved the Supreme Court after the Kerala High Court in June 2023 upheld an order of a special court in Ernakulam denying him anticipatory bail in the matter.
On Friday, the bench said that the phrase “intent to humiliate” under Section 3(1)(r) of the Act is “inextricably linked to the caste identity of the person who is subjected to...
