FIR under the SC/ST Act cannot stand without specific averments of intentional caste-based humiliation in public view.

The applicant invoked the Gujarat High Court’s inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, seeking quashing of C.R. No. II-09 of 2015 registered at Paddhar Police Station, Kachchh West, for offences under Sections 504 and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (“Atrocities Act”).

The dispute arose after a water pipeline was damaged during drainage-line and related excavation work near the complainant’s village. The complainant alleged that the applicant abused him, used caste-based slurs, and threatened to kill him when the complainant objected to the applicant’s conduct at the site.

The applicant denied the incident, alleged political rivalry with the complainant and the contractor, and contended that the FIR was lodged approximately nine hours after the alleged occurrence and was supported only by persons known to the complainant.

The State opposed quashing on the ground that the FIR disclosed a prima facie case and that the investigation was at an initial stage.

The complainant, although served, did not appear.

Whether the FIR disclosed the essential ingredients of an offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the Atrocities Act, including intentional insult or intimidation with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe in a place within public view?

Whether the allegations in the FIR constituted criminal intimidation under Section 506(2) of the IPC, particularly whether the alleged threat was intended to cause alarm to the complainant?

Whether, in exercise of jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC, the FIR and consequential proceedings ought to be quashed for absence of the basic ingredients of the alleged offences?

The Court exercised its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC to prevent abuse of the process of law.

The FIR invoked Sections 504 and 506(2) IPC and Section 3(1)(x) of the Atrocities Act.

Relying on Gorige Pentaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (2008) 12 SCC 531, the Court held that an offence under Section 3(1)(x) requires allegations showing, inter alia, that the accused was not a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and that the complainant was intentionally insulted or intimidated with the intent to humiliate him in a place within public view; where the basic ingredients are absent from the complaint, the FIR may be quashed.

For criminal intimidation, the allegations must disclose a threat intended to cause alarm to the person threatened.

Applying the principles in Gorige Pentaiah, the Court found that the FIR did not contain the necessary foundational averments for an offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the Atrocities Act.

The alleged incident was witnessed by persons known to the complainant, and the Court considered that the circumstances did not establish humiliation in a place within public view or the requisite intention to insult or intimidate on the basis of caste.

The Court further held that the FIR did not disclose that the applicant’s alleged threat was intended to cause alarm to the complainant, and therefore no prima facie case under Section 506(2) IPC was made out.

In the absence of the essential ingredients of the invoked offences, continuation of the criminal proceedings was held to amount to an abuse of the process of law, notwithstanding the State’s submission that the investigation was at an initial stage.

C.R. No. II-09 of 2015 registered at Paddhar Police Station, Kachchh West, together with all consequential proceedings, was quashed and set aside.

If the applicant was in custody and was not required in any other offence, he was directed to be released forthwith.

The Rule was made absolute to that extent.