OBC Youth Forced To Wash Another's Feet | Supreme Court Orders Release Of Accused Detained Under National Security Act

In the case pertaining to a young man from the OBC community, who was allegedly forced to wash another's feet due to caste discrimination, the Supreme Court today directed immediate release of one of the accused who was detained by invoking the National Security Act.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order in the petitioner-accused's challenge to a High Court suo motu order which directed the State police to proceed against all present at the time of the incident under the NSA.Counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that the ingredients of Section 3 of the NSA were not made out in the case. He also contended that even before the order issuing mandamus for invocation of NSA was uploaded on the High Court website, a preventive detention order was passed and the petitioner detained.Visibly amused, the bench issued notice on the petitioner's plea and stayed the impugned order.Briefly put, the incident took place in Gram Satariya, where the petitioner allegedly sold liquor despite the Panchayat having imposed a self-prohibition. He was found drunk and, per the news reports, was fined by the Panchayat. An AI video meme of him wearing a garland of footwear was allegedly created by the victim, which was objected to by the general community. The Panchayat decided that the victim had to atone for his act of indiscretion.As such, the victim was called to the village temple and compelled by the mob to wash the petitioner's feet and consume the water. One person from the mob allegedly told the victim to say that he would serve the upper caste community. Per YouTube News channels, the victim later appeared in a video stating that certain interested parties were trying to make a mountain of a molehill and that the person whose feet he washed was his Guru for a long time.Subsequently, a bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court took suo motu cognizance of the incident. It observed that though no vocal threats were meted out to the victim, he was surrounded by several people and had no choice but to follow their directions. The Court noted that prima facie offence for criminal intimidation (Section 351) and for assault and use of criminal force (Section 133) were also made out.It was further commented that the video where the victim appeared to be justifying the act of washing the petitioner's feet was tutored. Noting that the Damoh Police registered an FIR for obscene acts and songs in public places (Section 296) and for acts prejudicial to harmony maintained between different religious, racial, language, regional groups, cast or communities (196(1b)) of BNS, the Court questioned how Section 296 was applicable and observed that since the incident occurred in a temple, Section 196(2) was applicable, which deals with offences committed at a place of religious worship.It further explicated instances of caste-based violence, including an incident where a person of the general category urinated on the head of a tribal person and remarked. "The repeated instances of caste-related violence and discriminative actions in the State of Madhya Pradesh is shocking. This is the same State, where a person of the general category urinated on the head of a tribal person and to placate whom, the then Chief Minister washed the feet of the victim. Caste identities are on the rise".It was also noted that every community 'frequently and shamelessly flaunts' its caste identity and has become vociferous and ultra-sensitive, resulting in the rise of several instances of caste-based violence. The court emphasized on the rise of caste-related issues, including the incident of a shoe being thrown at the CJI or the suicide of the Senior Additional DGP in Haryana.To prevent the evil symphony of caste acrimony and discrimination from reaching its crescendo, the Court directed the Damoh Police to proceed against the accused persons visible in the video and present in the temple surrounding the victim, compelling him to do the act, under the FIR and the NSA. As a follow-up, the District Magistrate Damoh detained five accused persons under the NSA on October 14.Against the suo motu order, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court.Interestingly, a day after the impugned order, a coordinate bench of the High Court asked the police why it took action against the petitioner-accused on October 14 itself when the matter was formally registered only on October 15.Additional Advocate General for the State claimed that the Superintendent of Police acted on the order dictated by the court during the hearing. It was also submitted that the court reader had called the Deputy Advocate General and handed over a WhatsApp copy of the order. The AAG also informed that the provision of Section 3(2) of the NSA was invoked against 5 people in compliance with the October 14 order.The Court took on record the report of the State, noting that besides Section 3(2) of NSA, Section 196(2), 352, 351(2) of BNS were also added. It further noted that the...

OBC Youth Forced To Wash Another's Feet | Supreme Court Orders Release Of Accused Detained Under National Security Act

Debby Jain

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