SC & ST ACT, 1989 (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Polity & Governance)

Context: The Supreme Court held in a judgment that not all insults and intimidatory comments aimed at a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe person would be an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

• Enactment: The government enacted the Act in 1989.
• Aim: Furtherance of the provisions for abolition of untouchability (Article 17) and equality (Articles 14, 15) in the Constitution.
• Offender: Any person who is not a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe and commits an offence listed in the Act(Ex: - Forcing to eat/ drink any inedible or obnoxious substance, intent to cause injury, insult, or annoyance etc.) against a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe is an offender.
• Anticipatory Bail: Under section 18 of the act, provision for anticipatory bail is not available to the offenders.
• Punishments: The police can arrest the offender without a warrant and start an investigation into the case without taking any orders from the court.

o The accused can be punished between six months to five years sentence and with a fine to life imprisonment or even death sentence in some cases.

Supreme Court Ruling on SC/ST Act

• Intentionality Matters: The SC/ST Act applies only if the insult or intimidation is intentional and directly related to the victim’s identity as a member of the SC/ST community.
• Aggressor's Identity: A non-SC/ST person cannot be booked under the Act merely because the victim is from an SC/ST community unless the aggression was specifically due to their caste identity.
• Caste-Based Humiliation: Not every insult towards an SC/ST member qualifies under the Act; it must cause a feeling of caste-based humiliation rooted in untouchability or caste superiority.
• Historical Context: The insult must reinforce ideas like caste purity, pollution, or the superiority of ‘upper castes’ over ‘lower castes’ to fall under the Act.
• Focus on Discrimination: The Act specifically targets insults and intimidation that perpetuate historical discrimination or untouchability practices.
• Clarification by the Court: The court emphasized that the insult must be solely due to the victim's SC/ST identity for the Act to apply.