The Karnataka High Court has said that the SC/ST Act will not apply unless there is misbehavior in a public place. After the verdict, the court quashed the pending case. The complainant had alleged that casteist words were spoken to him in the basement. His friends were also present there. On this, the court said that the basement is not a public place.
The case is of the year 2020, Ritesh Pias had given casteist abuses to the complainant Mohan in the basement of a building. The complainant said in the statement that there were other laborers also. All these people were hired by the owner of the building, Jayakumar R Nair.
Judge M Nagaprasanna had pronounced the verdict on the matter on June 10. This news came in the media on Thursday. While delivering the verdict, the judge said that two things have come to light from the reading of the statements. Firstly, the basement of the building was not a public place and secondly that the complainant, his friends and other employees were present there.
Casteist words were not used in public places. In such a situation, a case cannot be registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, because it is necessary to use casteist words in a public place.
The court said that Ritesh Pias had a dispute with the owner of the building, Jayakumar R Nair, and had also taken a stay against the construction of the building. This leads to the conclusion that Jayakumar is firing at Ritesh Pias with a gun on his employee Mohan’s shoulder. Along with this, the court also dismissed the case registered against Pias in the lower court under Section 323.
Actually, the complainant had filed a case against Pias in Mangaluru that he was also assaulted. He had also filed a medical report. However, it was said to have simple scratch marks on the arm and chest. On this, the court said that section 323 cannot be imposed for a simple scratch.
Along with this, the court said that the evidence presented in the case does not contain the basic elements of the crime. In such a situation, the time of the court will be wasted and the law will be misused by pursuing the matter.