Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: January 24, 2022 at 17:05 IST
The Karnataka High Court recently held that acquiring fake Caste Certificate, by any person who is not a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, is not an Offence according to Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The Bench lead by Justice Harish Kumar asserted that the provision cannot be cited in the Chargesheet itself even if the Accused has Allegedly obtained the Caste Certificate through false means.
In the present Case, the Accused is said to have produced the Certificates that say he belongs to the Marathi caste which is a part of SC category.
Immediately, the Accused was booked under the Section of 3(1)(x) of the SC – ST Act.
However, the Accused moved to the Court requesting discharge and sought for immediate review of the Pleas.
The Counsel representing the Accused informed the Court that the Certificates issued before the Act was introduced in 1989, thus it is not an Offence at that period of time.
The Counsel also pointed out that even though the Certificates were obtained through false means but Section 3(1)(x) of the SC – ST Act cannot be implied as it was not done to annoy or degrade the SC – ST Caste members.
The High Court took note of the fact that the Caste Certificates were issued in 1983 and 1977 whereas the SC – ST Caste came into force in 1990, hence the Accused cannot be charged under this Section of the mentioned Act.
The Court also took cognizance of the fact that even though the Trial Court had the power as per Section 227 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to dismiss the Chargesheet, it did not do so under the false impression that only the High Court is entitled to do the same.
Also read: Use and Misuse of SC ST Act