SC/ST Act prosecution requires more than the complainant’s membership of a protected caste.

The complainant alleged that on 2 December 2017, the petitioner, the warden of his hostel, assaulted him with a stick after noticing that he had spat inside the hostel.

The complainant reported the incident to hostel mates and his mother, but lodged a complaint only on 8 December 2017, after being taken to hospital by the head of the DSS Union. The police registered a case under Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3(2)(v-a) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC/ST Act), investigated it, and filed a charge-sheet. The petitioner sought to quash the proceedings in S.C. No. 87/2018 under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.).

Whether the allegations, as stated in the complaint, disclosed offences under Section 324 IPC and Section 3(2)(v-a) of the SC/ST Act

Whether the High Court should exercise its inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the proceedings

Section 482 Cr.P.C. preserves the High Court’s inherent power to quash criminal proceedings where the circumstances justify that intervention.

It reasoned that the complainant’s membership of a particular community, without an allegation of caste-based abuse, was not by itself sufficient to invoke the special enactment.

The Court considered the six-day delay in lodging the complaint, the simple nature of the injury—an abrasion—and the absence of any allegation that the complainant was abused by reference to his caste.

In the Court’s view, the complaint did not disclose the ingredients of the offences charged, and the circumstances did not warrant continuation of the prosecution. It therefore found the case appropriate for exercise of its inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C.

The High Court allowed the petition and quashed the proceedings initiated against the petitioner in S.C. No. 87/2018.