The Caste Of The Complainant Is Of Fundamental Importance And Is "Sine Qua Non" In A Matter Under The SC / ST Act

NAME OF THE CASE AND CORAM

• Case Name: Alkesh and others Vs. State of M.P.
• Case Citation: Criminal Appeal No.8182/2019
• Coram:Justice Subodh Abhyankar

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Despite the fact that the FIR is not an encyclopaedia of the events or facts, it is critical to not forget essential data such as the complainant's caste.
• The complainant's caste is quite important, and it should not be presumed that the complainant will forget to include in the FIR that the assailants also made derogatory remarks about his caste since the situation revolves around it.

CASE BACKGROUND

• A dispute, took place on the 12th of April, 2021, between the appellants and respondents.
• They were people of different castes who were seen fighting.The incident took place when the plaintiff Jagdish was pushed into the crowd by the appellant No.1 Alkesh. When the complainant objected, the appellant and other accused persons started beating him, and when others arrived, they were also attacked.

CASE PROCEEDINGS

• The case was first filed under Sections 294, 323, 506, and 34 of the IPC; subsequently, after more than a month, on May 10, 2016, Sections 3(2) (5A), 3(1)(d)(r) of the SC/ST Act were inserted into the list of charges based on the witness's testimony.
• Though Section 3(1) of the SC/ST Act was removed at the time of filing, the charges were formulated under Sections 294, 323, 506(2) of the IPC and Section 3(2) (5A) of the SC/ST Act.
• The complainant went to the High Court to challenge the charging under Subsection 3(2) (5A) of the SC/ST Act.
• The court specified that it’svital to observe that the caste issue appeared for the first time 28 days after the occurrence, and that too in an additional testimony under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C., but the plaintiff's caste was not mentioned in the FIR.
• The court therefore stated that the accusation of derogatory remarks on the complainant's caste were thrown in as an afterthought in order to seek benefit of the severe sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which will not be accepted.

CASE RELEVANCE

• The Madhya Pradesh High Court on 14th of September held that in a case under the SC/ST Act, the complainant's caste was of prime significance and was a sine qua non, and that it could not be supposed that the plaintiff would fail to make a point about it in the FIR that the assailants tried to make derogatory remarks about his caste.
• As a result, Justice Subodh Abhyankar's bench dismissed a charge brought under Section 3(2) (5A) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against a man charged with making derogatory comments against the aggrieved party's caste.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. You may now be able to answer the following questions, let us know in the comments section

• Should it be allowed to make Amendments to the FIR days after it is lodged?
• Should a specific Formatting structure be introduced in important documents like the First Investigation Report?