Gujarat High Court Quashes Complaint Filed By One BJP Member Against Another, Expresses Anguish Over Misuse Of SC/ST Act

The Gujarat High Court, while expressing distress over the misuse of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act), quashed a complaint filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member against another BJP leader who held the position of President of Chotila Nagarpalika.

Justice Sandeep Bhatt expressing concern, said, "While the Act is essentially meant for protecting the members of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe from atrocity or oppression, at the same time, it cannot be allowed to be misused. It is a greater responsibility on the investigating officer to investigate such offence wisely and/or very sharply and in a fair manner."

“Unless the investigation indicates or reveals the intention of a person not belonging to Scheduled Caste or Schedule Tribe to commit any of the offences under Section 3 of the Act, in order to oppress or insult or humiliate or subjugate or ridicule a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe as such person merely belongs to that caste, the offence under Section 3 of the Act cannot be invoked. If the motive for the crime is not a casteist attack, the person cannot be dragged for an offence under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” he further clarified.

The prosecution case centers around two individuals, both affiliated with the same political party. The petitioner sought the position of President of Chotila Nagarpalika, while the complainant intended to cast his vote in favor of the Congress Party. As alleged, a verbal altercation ensued between them, leading to the petitioner humiliating the complainant in the presence of other elected members, including women members of the Nagarpalika. Subsequently, the complainant filed a complaint against the petitioner.

The court observed that despite the alleged incident, the complainant did not raise his grievance before higher authorities or lodge a complaint with the police immediately. This fact raised doubts about the genuineness of the complaint and tilted the balance in favor of the petitioner, it said. Even if the alleged incident was deemed to have occurred, the court deemed it as a sudden outburst without the requisite intention to humiliate the complainant.

Keeping the above in view, the Court opined that the allegations mentioned in the impugned complaint did not constitute criminal offences under the Act, as alleged.

The court also took note of the political context in which the complaint was filed, with both the complainant and the petitioner competing for the President's post from the same political party, BJP. The court opined that the complaint appeared to be politically motivated; as a counter-blast of petitioner's complaint to the higher authorities of BJP regarding the complainant casting vote to another political party.

"In such situation, the sufferer would be the non-scheduled caste and non-scheduled tribe qua these provisions, by which damage is caused to fabric of social harmony in the society." the court expressed with concern.

"If we believe that alleged incident has happened, it was pure and simply an abuse by the petitioner under the peculiar facts and circumstances and a sudden outburst and on the spur of the moment without carrying the requisite intention to humiliate the complainant," the court held while quashing the FIR.

Case Title: Jivanbhai Nagjibhai Makwana Versus State Of Gujarat & 1 Other(S) R/Criminal Misc.Application No. 13552 Of 2018

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 124

Appearance:

Mr Kunal S Shah, Advocate For The Petitioner

Mr Soaham Joshi, App For Respondent No. 1 - State

Mr Dhaval A Parmar, Advocate For Respondent No. 2 - Complainant

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