Why in news
The Supreme Court held in a judgment that not all insults and intimidatory comments aimed at a SC or ST person would be an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The statement came in a case involving Shajan Skaria (Marunadan Malayali), who faced allegations under the 1989 Act for a derogatory video against Kerala MLA P.V. Sreenijin, a member of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community
The court examined the content of the video and found no indication that the allegations made by Skaria were related to the complainant’s SC/ST status
What Supreme Court said
The 1989 Act is designed to protect members of SC/ST communities from intentional insults or intimidatory acts related to their caste identity.
For the Act to apply, the insult or intimidation must be specifically because the victim is a member of the SC/ST community.
An individual who is not from an SC/ST community cannot be prosecuted under the Act solely based on the fact that the victim is from SC/ST.
COMMENTS