No Disrespect Shown To Judge; No Offence Under SC-ST Act Attracted: Supreme Court Quashes Criminal Case Against MP RS Bharathi

The chargesheet was filed against the MP after he made a speech at a meeting organised by the leaders of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the name of 'Kalaignar Vasagar Vattam'. He had also spoken about the appointment of Justice Varadarajan as a High Court Judge after Late M. Karunanidhi came to power. He also allegedly said that all these appointments to persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community is because of the alms of the Dravidian movement. The Madras High Court had refused to quash the criminal proceedings against him.

Before the Apex Court, Sr. Adv Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the MP contended that there is nothing spoken by the MP which results in disrespect to Justice Varadharajan or other Judges of the High Court belonging to Adi Dravida Community. Opposing this, Sr. Adv Mukul Rohatgi, appeared for the State, and contended that the prosecution should not be nipped at the bud at this stage. Sr. Adv Geeta Luthra, who represented the complainant, contended that both Section 3(1)(u) and Section 3(1)(v) of the Act would be attracted in this case.

The court noted that Section 3(1)(u) of the Act would show that it is attracted only in a case where a person not belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe has through his speech promotes or attempts to promote feeling of enmity, hatred or ill will against members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.

"A careful reading of the speech does not show that there is any attempt made by the appellant to promote or attempt to promote enmity, hatred or ill will against the members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community. On the other hand, the speech indicates that members of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes have been benefited due to the benevolence of Late M. Karunanidhi", the court said.

Section 3(1)(v) of the Act is concerned, a person is liable for prosecution in case there is a speech made by him which shows disrespect to any late person held in high esteem by members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community. Rejecting the contention that there is disrespect shown in the speech to Justice Varadarajan, a retired SC judge, the bench observed:

"We are of the opinion that there is no disrespect shown to Justice Varadarajan. The tenor of the speech is that the members of Adi Dravida Community have benefited because of Kalaignar (Late M. Karunanidhi) and Justice Varadarajan was appointed as a judge of the High Court. Thereafter other members of the Adi Dravida Community were also appointed as judges due to the indulgence shown by Late M. Karunanidhi."

The bench further observed that the High Court committed an error in holding that the MP remarked that people outside Tamil Nadu are idiots, targeting the Scheduled Castes, and also caused humiliation and insult to the Scheduled Castes.

"A careful analysis of the speech shows that the Appellant indulged in intemperate rant which should have been avoided. However, there is nothing in the speech which attracts an offence under either Section 3 (1) (u) or 3(1)(v) of the SCST Act.", the bench said while quashing the criminal proceedings against the DMK leader.

Case:  RS Bharathi vs. State [CrA 635 /2021]
Coram: Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose
Citation: LL 2021 SC 321

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