Justice Amol Rattan Singh, however, refused to quash the first information report (FIR) relating to charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act), stating that the cricketer had used the term in a pejorative sense.
“Keeping in view the aims and objectives of the Act, in my opinion if the effect of the word used is causing emotional hurt, humiliation etc. to any members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, a particular caste name having been used in a derogatory manner, even if the intention of the petitioner was obviously not to actually so hurt any person, yet it would not entitle this court to quash the FIR on that ground,” the single-Judge observed.
The Court added that unless the investigating agency later arrives at a different conclusion, the FIR under the SC/ST Act cannot be quashed in the interim since a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste community can be hurt by the use of the word.
The charges under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code were ruled as not being made out as the “the petitioner did not intentionally mean to cause any dis-respect or harm or even humiliation to any class of people,” the Court said.
The judge observed that the word ‘bhangi’ is normally used in a derogatory sense in northern India.
Source: Barandbench
