Presence Of Public To Witness Occurrence In Private Place Would Come Under Public View For Offence Under SC/ST Act: Kerala High Court
The appeal before the Kerala High Court was filed by the sole accused booked under the Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Justice A. Badharudeen, Kerala High Court
While directing that the trial under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act be expedited, the Kerala High Court has held that the presence of the public to witness the occurrence or hear the abusive words, even in a private place, would make such a private place within public view for the purposes of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The appeal before the High Court was filed by the sole accused in a case registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST (POA) Act), challenging the rejection of his discharge plea.
The Single Bench of Justice A. Badharudeen held, “In this context, it is relevant to note that merely because a place is a private place or is a dwelling house of a person, that by itself is not sufficient to hold the said place is not a place within public view, for the purpose of the provisions of the SC/ST (POA) Act, when, at the time of occurrence or at the time of commission of the offence, public were available to see the occurrence even in a private place. So, the presence of the public to witness the occurrence or hear the abusive words, even in a private place, would make such a private place within public view for the purposes of SC/ST (POA) Act.”
Advocate M.Rajesh represented the Petitioner, while Senior Public Prosecutor Vipin Narayan A represented the Respondent.
Reasoning
On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench noted that even though a final report was filed by the police, in support of the appellant/accused, the Special Judge found from the statements of the witnesses that the offences were made out, prima facie, to proceed further. Accordingly, the Special Judge took cognisance of the said offences.
The Bench further noticed that the main reason for contending that the offence was not made out by the appellant was based on the fact that the occurrence took place inside the residence of the complainant. The Bench found that the Single Judge noted that even though the place of occurrence was the house of the appellant/accused, other persons were present at the time of the occurrence, to make the place of occurrence a place within public view.
The Bench also held that the place of occurrence was a place within public view, as found by the Special Court and for the said reason, the finding of the Special Court that the offences were made out, prima facie, was held to be justified. The Bench also clarified that this was a case where the accused was not a member of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe community, whereas the complainant belonged to the Hindu Pulaya community, which is a Scheduled Caste. “Therefore, the plea of discharge raised by the appellant/accused has been negatived by the learned Special Judge rightly and the said order does not require any interference”, it added.
Thus, dismissing the appeal, the Bench directed the Special Court under the SC/ST (POA) Act to expedite the trial and dispose of the same at the earliest.
Cause Title: Santhosh Kumar v. State Of Kerala (Neutral Citation: 2026:KER:35838)
Appearance
Petitioner: Advocate M. Rajesh
Respondent: Senior Public Prosecutor Vipin Narayan A, Advocates V.S. Thoshin, Arham Anwar