The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Grave Concern over SC Judgement on Applicability of SC-ST Act
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses grave concern over the judgement passed by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court according to which “In order to make out the offence under Section 3(1)(r) and/or Section 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act, the occurrence of the incident and the act and conduct of hurling of caste-based abuses must take place at ‘a place within public view’. It must be a place within the public gaze. Even if it happens to be a private place, then in such eventuality, a public eye must have an access to be able to notice what happens there or what is taking place that will only make the ‘place within public view’.” Unfortunately, the SC in Girija Kumari & Others v/s State of Delhi adopted a narrow, legalistic view and ordered that the FIR and charge-sheet be quashed.
This ruling is a matter of concern for several reasons. For one, it comes at a time when atrocities against people belonging to the SC and ST communities are seeing an exponential rise in most parts of the country. Secondly, the judgment is the latest in a series of SC judgments and pronouncements which adversely impact the rights of members of these communities. It would be tragic if this latest judgment increases incidents of humiliation and abuse of SC and ST persons in the privacy of homes, offices, schools, colleges and such other public spaces because perpetrators believe that it confers them with impunity before the law.
The CPI(M) demands the union government to immediately intervene and appeal the Supreme Court to revisit the judgement.