Karnataka HC denounces misuse of SC/ST Act, IPC clogging justice delivery system
Bengaluru (PTI): Calling it a classic example of misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Karnataka High Court has quashed a case filed against two brothers who are in their fifties over a property dispute.
The court said false cases under the SC/ST Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) are clogging the criminal justice system.
"This case would form a classic illustration of misuse of the provisions of the Act and the penal provisions under the IPC. It is such cases which clog the criminal justice system and consume considerable time of the Courts, be it the Magistrates Court, Court of Session or this Court, while genuine cases where litigants have actually suffered would be waiting in the pipeline," it said.
"On the entire gamut of consideration made hereinabove, what would unmistakably emerge is misuse and abuse of the provisions of the Act. This case forms a classic illustration of scores and scores of cases where the provisions of the Act are misused for ulterior motives or pressurise the accused in collateral proceedings," Justice M Nagaprasanna said in a recent judgement on a petition filed by Rasik Lal Patel and Purushothama Patel.
The father of the petitioners, K J Patel, had purchased the property from one Krishnamurthy over 50 years ago. Krishnamurthy's son Purushotham has been fighting a civil case over the property against the brothers.
In 2018, he registered a complaint against them and they were booked under the SC/ST Atrocities Act and the IPC. They challenged it before the HC.
The counsel for the brothers argued before the HC that the petitioners have been in possession of the property for the last 50 years and that the family of the complainant is completely aware of all these factors.
"The matter which is purely civil in nature is sought to be given a colour of crime, as the complainant himself is before the civil court seeking partition of the very properties and the petitioners are before the civil court seeking injunction against the complainant," she said.
Pointing that the civil case has been given a criminal colour, Justice Nagaprasanna said: "If the impugned crime is not a case where a civil proceeding is dressed with a colour of crime, I fail to understand what else it can be."
The HC said the criminal case cannot be allowed to continue. "None of the offences either under the IPC or under the Act are present even on their foundational basis, let alone building a castle on such a foundation. In the teeth of aforesaid facts, if further proceedings are permitted to continue, it would be putting a premium on the abuse of the process of law by the complainant in a manner which on the face of it is civil in nature."
Purushotham had claimed that fake documents had been used in the property transaction that took place 50 years ago. The HC dismissed this contention stating that they have been in public domain for 50 years and were never challenged.
Allowing the petition and quashing the criminal case against the brothers, the HC said: "Therefore, such cases, which on the face of it is an abuse of the process of the law, are necessarily required to be nipped, failing which, it would be a heavy burden on the criminal justice system, apart from it becoming a harassment to the petitioners and ultimately resulting in miscarriage of justice."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Conspiracy afoot to 'tarnish' image of Dharmasthala: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Aug 14 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said there was a “conspiracy” to tarnish the image of Dharmasthala.
His comments come amid an ongoing investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into serious allegations of mass burials in the revered temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to destroy hundreds of years of legacy. It is not correct to tarnish someone just like that. It has all happened due to one complainant,” he said.
Noting that some Congress MLAs have called for action against those involved in the slander campaign at the legislature party meeting, he said, “ I have told them that action must be taken against those who are indulging in a slander campaign. The CM has also said that action must be taken against such people.”
“I have information on this case. Religious feelings should not be hurt in any manner. Culprits must be punished,” he told reporters, according to a release from his office.
Responding to a question, Shivakumar said the Congress party will not allow the image of any religious place to be tarnished.
“We see everyone equally when it comes to religion,” he added.
The SIT, formed by the state government, is probing claims of mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.
The complainant, a former sanitation worker whose identity has not been revealed, alleged that between 1995 and 2014 he was forced to handle bodies—including women and minors—and that some showed signs of sexual assault. He has given a statement before a magistrate.
As part of the probe, the SIT has been conducting exhumations at multiple locations identified by the complainant-witness in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains have been found at two sites so far.
