Any Harassment Of An Innocent Citizen, Irrespective Of Caste Or Religion, Is Against The Guarantee Of The Constitution:SC

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, observed that any harassment of an innocent citizen, irrespective of caste or religion, is against the guarantee of the Constitution and the Supreme Court must enforce such a guarantee.“Law should not result in caste hatred. The preamble to the Constitution, which is the guiding star for interpretation, incorporates the values of liberty, equality and fraternity”, said a Bench comprising Justice A.K. Goel and Justice U.U. Lalit while issuing directions preventing the misuse of Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) (SC/ST) Act 1989.“The under privileged need to be protected against any atrocities to give effect to the Constitutional ideals. The Atrocities Act has been enacted with this objective. At the same time, the said Act cannot be converted into a charter for exploitation or oppression by any unscrupulous person or by police for extraneous reasons against other citizens. The preamble to the Constitution, which is the guiding star for interpretation, incorporates the values of liberty, equality and fraternity.”The Court was hearing an Appeal by one Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan, challenging an order passed by Bombay High Court in May, 2017, wherein the High Court had refused to quash the FIR lodged against him for offences alleged under the Act.Dr. Mahajan, in his capacity as the then Director of Technical Education, had refused to grant sanction for prosecution of the Principal of the Department of the College of Pharmacy where the respondent, Mr. Bhaskar Karbhari Gaikwad was employed. Mr. Gaikwad had sought sanction for prosecution of the Principal under various provisions of the Atrocities Act and for certain other connected offences.Mr. Gaikwad had then filed another complaint against Dr. Mahajan this time, contending that he was not competent to grant or refuse sanction as these were Class-I officers, and that only the State Government could have granted such sanction. Since the High Court had refused to quash the complaint, Dr. Mahajan had now approached the Supreme Court.Potential impact of Atrocities Act on spreading casteismAt the outset, the Court expressed concern over the Atrocities Act "perpetuating casteism", observing, "Such concern has also been expressed by this Court on several occasions. Secularism is a basic feature of the Constitution. Irrespective of caste or religion, the Constitution guarantees equality in its preamble as well as other provisions including Articles 14-16. The Constitution envisages a cohesive, unified and casteless society......We are thus of the view that interpretation of the Atrocities Act should promote constitutional values of fraternity and integration of the society. This may require check on false implications of innocent citizens on caste lines."Right of Anticipatory bailSection 18 of the Atrocities Act bars grant of anticipatory bail to any person accused under the Act. This was held to be not violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India by the Supreme Court in the case of State of M.P. versus Ram Krishna Balothia. Considering this case, the Court now opined that while Balothia's judgment may need to be revisited, it was not necessary to refer it to a larger Bench. It then went on to clarify the judgment, ruling that the bar against grant of anticipatory bail should not be applicable to cases where no prima facie case is made out, explaining,“Innocent citizens are termed as accused, which is not intended by the legislature. The legislature never intended to use the Atrocities Act as an instrument to blackmail or to wreak personal vengeance. The Act is also not intended to deter public servants from performing their bona fide duties. Thus, unless exclusion of anticipatory bail is limited to genuine cases and inapplicable to cases where there is no prima facie case was made out, there will be no protection available to innocent citizens. Thus, limiting the exclusion of anticipatory bail in such cases is essential for protection of fundamental right of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution”."Exclusion of anticipatory bail has been justified only to protect victims of perpetrators of crime. It cannot be read as being applicable to those who are falsely implicated for extraneous reasons and have not committed the offence on prima facie independent scrutiny. Access to justice being a fundamental right, grain has to be separated from the chaff, by an independent mechanism.Liberty of one citizen cannot be placed at the whim of another. Law has to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. Thus considered, exclusion has to be applied to genuine cases and not to false ones. This will help in achieving the object of the law."It further asserted that a mere allegation cannot be enough to deprive a person of such right, observing, "Thus, exclusion of provision for anticipatory bail cannot possibly, by any reasonable interpretation, be treated as applicable when no case is made out or allegations...

Any Harassment Of An Innocent Citizen, Irrespective Of Caste Or Religion, Is Against The Guarantee Of The Constitution:SC

Apoorva Mandhani

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