Increased Awareness About Rights, Powers & Duties Led To 'Steep' Rise In Criminal Cases Lodged By SC/ST Community: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has noted a significant increase in the number of criminal cases lodged by members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) community.

"We are in our 75th year of independence, a mature democracy where there is sufficient spread of education system even in rural areas and there is sufficient amount of awareness among all the stratas of the society including persons belonging to SC/ST community. In addition to this, there is upsurge of electronic media, social media even in the remote areas of our villages, the people are now more aware and vigilant about their rights, powers and duties. The situation is improving slowly but steadily, even in the rural areas, and therefore, there is steep rise in lodging of the criminal cases by the members of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes community," the bench remarked.

While acknowledging this positive trend, the Court also highlighted the importance of seeking compromise in matters where it is appropriate to ensure swift and amicable resolution of disputes.

The single judge said that it is a "welcome step" that the parties are 'readily' accepting the compromise on various accounts, viz: residing in the same village or close vicinity; relationship between them for generations; interdependence, etc. are "cooling factors".

The Court added that in these circumstances, the role of law courts should be to act as a 'catalyst' between them to 'bury' their disputes and differences "instead of letting the matter linger for an unlimited period, permitting the animosity between them to become more firm and irrevocable".

"Long drawn enmity sometimes give a disastrous result to the general peace and tranquility of the society, and thus, it is expected from the law courts to act in a pro-active way and after evaluating and taking into account the above mentioned factors, try to bury the differences for good in larger interest of the society," the Court said.

These observations were made by the Court while quashing the entire proceeding (along with chargesheet and cognizance order) against 8 accused in two cases under sections 147, 148, 149, 452, 323, 324, 325, 427, 307, 308, 34 IPC.

During the pending proceedings, the parties (including the victims and the accused) involved settled their dispute and entered into a compromise. The compromise application was jointly filed and verified by the concerned court. Based on such a compromise, the applicants approached the Court to quash the proceedings.

At the outset, the Court referreding to the guidelines issued by the Apex Court in the cases of Gian Singh vs.State of Punjab and another (2012), Narinder Singh and others Vs.State of Punjab and other (2014), State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Laxmi Narayan and others (2019) concerning quashing of the cases based on compromise between parties.

The Court compared the facts of the present cases, the nature and gravity of the offence, and the fact that the contesting parties belong to the same village and reside either in the neighbourhood or nearby. The Court also considered that out of a sheer fit of anger, some heated passion or altercation took place, which resulted in an offensive act by the accused against the complainant.

The Court noted that over time, the contesting parties themselves have realized the need to coexist peacefully in their village for the rest of their lives.

The Court also noted with the intervention of elders and respected members of society, they have chosen to settle the issue permanently, following the principle of forgiveness and reconciliation with a calm and rational mindset.

Against this backdrop, welcoming their step of settling the matters among themselves, the Court said that it had no hesitation or objection to quash the proceedings of cases in the light of compromise between the contesting parties "for attaining the larger good and welfare of society".

In view of this, the Criminal Appeals u/s 14A(1) of the SC/ST Act and Applications u/s 482 CrPC were ALLOWED, and the impugned orders and proceedings of the respective cases were set aside/quashed.

Case title - Ibne Haidar And 8 Others vs. State Of U.P. And 7 Others 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 417 [APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 7191 of 2024] 

Case Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 417

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