Notice To Victim Under Section 15A In Court Proceedings Against Accused Is Mandatory

Key Takeaways

• The Supreme Court observed that the victim must be notified about the proceedings made against the accused under Section 15A of the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and it is a mandatory requirement.
• The Bench consisting of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna while deciding the case of Hariram Bhambhi V. Satyanarayan stated that as per the requirement a reasonable and timely notice must be given to the victim or they're dependent.
• According to section 15A (3) of the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, a victim or his dependent has the right to be furnished with a notice within a reasonable time including the bail proceedings and the Special Public Prosecutor or the State Government shall inform the victim.
• Under this Section, a victim is entitled to hear any proceedings against the accused in respect of bail, discharge, release, parole, conviction, or sentence of the accused.

Background

• In this case, the complainant’s younger brother Ram Niwas had gone out for labor work. His mother informed him that Ram Niwas went to meet his brother-in-law, Kishan Lal and that he would not return for the day.
• On 9 June 2018 wife of Ram Niwas told the complainant that her brother Kishan Lal had taken him in a car. The local villagers told the appellant that his brother’s dead body was thrown out of a vehicle at a specified area and the investigation started based on an FIR lodged by the complainant.
• Since the deceased belonged to Schedule Cast, the offenses charged against the accused were booked under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
• The first respondent was arrested and a final report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Act against the other three accused was prepared and submitted by the Investigating Officer.
• The accused moved to the High Court of Rajasthan because his bail was rejected. The High Court heard arguments and granted bail to accused no 1.
• The complainant moved to the High Court for cancellation of bail and the High Court had entertained a bail which was granted to the accused for which no notice was given to the complainant.
• The complainant then moved to the Supreme Court on grounds that the complainant was issued with no notice about the proceedings made against the accused by the High Court under section 15 A of the Act.

Courts Observation

• The Court stated that the purpose of Section 15A was to protect the rights of the victims and witnesses who are equal beneficiaries of the criminal justice system and are overlooked as they belong to the lower sections of society.
• The Court explained subsection 3 of Section 15A that provides for statutory rights to the victims or their dependents to receive a reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of the proceedings. In addition, the Court said that sub-section 3 requires a Special Public Prosecutor or the State Government to inform about such proceedings to the victim or their dependents.
• The Court further explained sub-section 5 of Section 15A that provides the victim or their dependent the right to be heard. Both sub-section 3 and 5 are mandatory.
• The Court observed that the right to be heard and the right to notice of the victim’s dependant has been violated and disagreed with the High Courts' order to grant bail to the accused which was based on the findings of a single judge.
• The Court stated that atrocities against the Scheduled Caste and Tribes are not a matter of the past. They fear penalty from the upper castes and hence do not register their cases and if they go to register their cases the police authority is hesitant and reluctant to file their cases.

Courts Order

• The Court allowed the appeal and the order granted by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana granting bail was set aside.
• The Court revoked the order granting bail to the first accused and ordered the first accused to surrender on or before November 7, 2021.
• The court ordered that the observations made are only to consider the bail grant and it shall not influence the trial of the case.

Questions:

• Why do you think that there are still so many atrocities faced by the SCs and STs in our country?
• How can we protect the rights of the lower sections of our society?

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