Madhya Pradesh High Court
Aakash @ Raghvendra Dhakad vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 25 March, 2025
Author: Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia
Bench: G. S. Ahluwalia
NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381
1 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT G WA L I O R
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE G. S. AHLUWALIA
ON THE 25th OF MARCH, 2025
MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 10867 of 2025
AAKASH @ RAGHVENDRA DHAKAD AND OTHERS
Versus
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS
Appearance:
Shri Bal Krishna Sharma - Advocate for applicants.
Dr. Anjali Gyanani - Public Prosecutor for respondent No.1/State.
Shri Sheeshu Yadav- Advocate for respondents No.2 and 3.
ORDER
This application, under Section 528 of B.N.S.S., 2023, has been filed for quashment of FIR in Crime No. 60 of 2025 registered at Police Station Vijaypur, District Sheopur (M.P.) for offences under Sections 115(2), 296, 3(5) of B.N.S. 2023, and under Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), and 3(2)(va) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (for short the "SC/ST Act"), on the basis of compromise.
2. The facts, necessary for disposal of the present application, in short, are that complainant Vinod Adiwasi lodged an FIR that he and other members of the Scheduled Caste were working as labourers for Nirpati Dhakad. On 24.2.2025 at about 12:00 p.m., contractor Nirpati Dhakad called the complainant as well as Devendra, Satish, Suraj and Rakesh and alleged that complainant had teased the Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 2 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 sister and mother of Aakash Dhakad, Golu Dhakad, Kuldeep Dhakad and Pushpendra Dhakad. Complainant denied the allegation. Thereafter, Nirpati Dhakad asked that all five should come to Dhamini Triangle where interrogation shall be done. Accordingly, complainant, Devendra Aadivasi, Satish Aadivasi, Suraj Aadivasi and Rakesh Aadivasi reached Dhamini Triangle, where they met with Aakash Dhakad, Golu Dhakad, Kuldeep Dhakad and Pushpendra Dhakad. They scolded as to why their mother and sister were teased by complainant. When complainant again denied the said allegation, then Aakash Dhakad, Golu Dhakad, Kuldeep Dhakad and Pushpendra Dhakad started abusing complainant and Devendra in the name of their mother and sister and also humiliated them by calling them Sahariya. Thereafter, Aakash Dhakad, Golu Dhakad, Kuldeep Dhakad and Pushpendra Dhakad assaulted complainant and Devendra Adiwasi by fists and blows. As a result, they sustained injuries. The incident was witnessed by Satish Aadiwasi, Suraj Aadiwasi, Rakesh Aadiwasi and Geeta Aadiwasi who also intervened in the matter and accordingly FIR was lodged.
3. It is submitted by counsel for applicants that parties have settled their dispute and accordingly FIR may be quashed on the basis of compromise.
4. The moot question for consideration is as to whether the offences under Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1((s), and 3(2)(va) of the Act are against society or not and whether compromise in special statute can be accepted or not?
5. The Supreme Court in the case of Ramawatar Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh decided on 25.10.2021 in Criminal Appeal No.1393 of 2011 has held as under:
15. Ordinarily, when dealing with offences arising out of special statutes such as the SC/ST Act, the Court will be extremely circumspect in its approach. The SC/ST Act has been specifically enacted to deter acts of indignity, humiliation and harassment against members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Act is also a recognition of the depressing reality that Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 3 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 despite undertaking several measures, the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes continue to be subjected to various atrocities at the hands of uppercastes. The Courts have to be mindful of the fact that the Act has been enacted keeping in view the express constitutional safeguards enumerated in Articles 15, 17 and 21 of the Constitution, with a twinfold objective of protecting the members of these vulnerable communities as well as to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims of castebased atrocities.
16. On the other hand, where it appears to the Court that the offence in question, although covered under the SC/ST Act, is primarily private or civil in nature, or where the alleged offence has not been committed on account of the caste of the victim, or where the continuation of the legal proceedings would be an abuse of the process of law, the Court can exercise its powers to quash the proceedings. On similar lines, when considering a prayer for quashing on the basis of a compromise/settlement, if the Court is satisfied that the underlying objective of the Act would not be contravened or diminished even if the felony in question goes unpunished, the mere fact that the offence is covered under a 'special statute' would not refrain this Court or the High Court, from exercising their respective powers under Article 142 of the Constitution or Section 482 Cr.P.C.
6. The Supreme Court in the case of State of Karnataka Vs. Appa Balu Ingale and Others reported in 1995 Supp (4) SCC 469 has held as under:-
"16. Poverty and penury made the Dalits as dependants and became vulnerable to oppression. The slightest attempt to assert equality or its perceived exercise receives the ire of the dominent sections of the society and the Dalits would become the object of atrocities and oppression. The lack of resources made the Dalits vulnerable to economic and social boycott. Their abject poverty and dependence on the upper classes in Rural Indian for livelihood stands as a constant constraint to their exercising their rights - social, legal or constitutional, though guaranteed. Thus they have neither money capacity, influence nor means to vindicate their rights except occasional collective action which would be deceased or flittered away by pressures through diverse forms. Consequently most of the Dalits are continuing to languish under the yoke of the practice of untouchability. The State has the duty to protect them and render Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 4 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 social justice to them.
21. Thus it could be concluded that the untouchability has been grown as an integral facet of socio-religious practices being observed for over centuries; keeping the Dalits away from the main-stream of the Society on diverse grounds, be it of religious, customary, unfounded beliefs of pollution etc. It is an attitude and way of behaviour of the general public of the Indian social order towards Dalits. Though it has grown as an integral part of caste system, it became an institution by itself and it enforces disabilities, restrictions, conditions and prohibitions on Dalits for access to and the use of places of public resort, public means, roads, temples, water sources, tanks, bathing ghats, etc., entry into educational institutions or pursuits of avocation or profession which are open to all and by reason of birth they suffer from social stigma. Untouchability and birth as a scheduled caste are thus intertwined root causes. Untouchability, therefore, is founded upon prejudicial hatred towards Dalits as in independent institution. It is an attitude to regard Dalits as pollutants, inferiors and out- castes. It is not founded on mense rea. The practice of untouchability in any form is, therefore, a crime against the Constitution. The Act also protects civil rights of Dalits. The abolition of untouchability is the arch of the Constitution to make its preamble meaningful and to integrate the Dalits in the national mainstream.
22. In furtherance thereof Article 15(2) removed disabilities that no citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to - (a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or (b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public. Article 23(1) prohibits begar and other similar forms of forced labour, (bonded labour). Article 23 also prohibits traffic in woman (Jogins and Devadasi system thrive on cruel monster of custom). Article 29(2) prohibits denial of admission into an educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of...caste or any of them. Article 25 guarantees freedom of religion and its exercise thereof is made available to Dalits. Sub-clause (2) thereof envisages that nothing in Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 5 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 that article shall affect the operation of the existing law or prevent the State from making any law to provide for social welfare and reform or to throw open Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.
23. Thus disabilities to which Dalits are subjected to, have been outlawed and denial thereof offends the right to equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution etc. These provisions also furnish evidence of sociology that Dalits have been denied access to all the public means open to the general public and of public amenities. The practice of untouchability is the root cause for social segregation, denial of opportunities for educational, economic and cultural pursuits; Dalits are subjected to severe discrimination, disabilities, liabilities, prohibitions, restrictions or conditions etc. The scheme in Part III, namely, fundamental rights is to remove disabilities to which the Dalits are subjected to and to provide positive rights in their favour and Part IV directive principles fasten duties on the State to render socio-economic and political justice and to protect them from all forms of exploitation and injustice by operation of Article 38 and Article 46 of the Constitution. In other words the Constitution charges the state to improve the quality of their life, social, economic and cultural pursuits as part of meaningful right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution
24. The above provisions seek to serve three- fold purposes; (i) outlawed the disabilities to which Dalits are subjected to; (ii) they are made an offence under the Act; and (iii) provided rights enforceable as civil rights. Untouchability is the root cause and consequently any religious, social, customary or moral grounds to enforce untouchability no longer subsists nor is valid after January 26, 1950. Enforcement of any disability is a crime against human rights and the Constitution entails the wrong doer with punishment. All customs, usages, practices, directly or indirectly recognising or encouraging the practice of untouchability in any form is void, being opposed to public policy. Even a contract, covenant or any private transaction tending to recognise, encourage or effectuate untouchability in any form is, therefore, void ab initio.
33. When the mandate of Article 17 was being breached with impunity, and commission of atrocities on Dalits and Tribes Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 6 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 continued unabated, to stamp out the evil, the Parliament stepped in and made Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 with stringent provisions to eradicate those offences with speedy trial, relief and rehabilitation of the victims of such offence and related matters. The details thereof are not germane for discussion.
34 Judiciary acts as a bastion of the freedom and of the rights of the people. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Architect of Modern India as early as in 1944 stated that the spirit of the age is in favour of equality though the practice denies it almost everywhere, yet the spirit of the age triumphs. The judge must be atone with the spirit of his/her times. Power of judicial review, a constituent power has, therefore, been conferred upon the judiciary which constitutes one of the most important and potent weapons to protect the citizens against violation of social, legal or constitutional rights. The judges are participants in the living stream of national life, steering the law between the dangers of rigidity on the one hand and formlessness on the other hand in the seemless web of life. The great tides and currents which engulf the rest of the men do not turn aside in their course and pass the judges idly bye. Law should subserve social purpose. Judge must be a jurist endowed with the legislator's wisdom, historian's search for truth, prophet's vision, capacity to respond to the needs of the present, resilience to to himself/herself from every personal influence or predilictions. Therefore, the Judges would adopt purposive interpretation of the dynamic concepts of the Constitution and the Act with its interpretative armoury to articulate the felt necessities of the time. The Judge must also bear in mind that social legislation is not a document for fastidious dialects but means of ordering in the life of the people. To construe law one must enter into its spirit, its setting and history. Law should be capable of expanding freedoms of the people and the legal order can, weighed with utmost equal care, be made to provide the underpinning of the highly inequitable social order. The power of judicial review must, therefore, be exercised with insight into social values to supplement the changing social needs. The existing social inequalities or imbalances are to be removed and social order readjusted through rule of law, lest the force of violent cult gain ugly triumph. Judges are summoned to the duty of shaping the progress of the law to consolidate society and grant access to the Dalits and Tribes to public means or places Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 7 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 dedicated to public use or places of amenities open to public etc. The law which is the resultant product is not found but made. Public policy of law, as determined by new conditions, would enable the courts to recast the changing conceptions of social values of yester years yielding place to the changed conditions and environment to the common good. The courts are to search for light from among the social elements of every kind that are the living forces behind the factors they deal with. By judicial review, the glorious contents and the trite realisation in the constitutional words of width must be made vocal and audible giving them continuity of life, expression and force when they might otherwise be forgotten or ignored in the heat of moment or under sway of passions of emotions remain aroused, that the rational faculties get befogged and the people are addicted to take immediate for eternal, the transitory for the permanent and the ephemeral for the timeless. It is in such surging situation the presence and consciousness and the restraining external force by judicial review ensures stability and progress of the Society. Judiciary does not forsake the ideals enshrined in he constitution, but make them meaningful and make the people realise and enjoy the rights.
35. The Judges, therefore, should respond to the human situations to meet the felt necessities of the time and social needs, make meaningful the right to life and give effect to the Constitution and the will of the Legislature. This court as the vehicle of transforming the nations life should respond to the nation's needs and to interpret the law with pragmatism to further public welfare to make the constitutional animations a reality. Common sense has always served in the court's ceaseless striving as a voice of reason to maintain the blend of change and continuity of order which is sine quo non for stability in the process of change in a parliamentary democracy. In interpreting the Act, the judge should be cognizant to and always keep at the back of his/her mind the constitutional goals and the purpose of the Act and interpret the provisions of the Act in the light thus shed to annihilate untouchability; to accord to the Dalits and the Tribes right to equality, social integration a fruition and make fraternity a reality.
36. The thrust of Article 17 and the Act is to liberate the society from blind and ritualistic adherence and traditional beliefs which lost Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 8 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 all legal or moral base. It seeks to establish new ideal for society - equality to the Dalits, on a par with general public, absence of disabilities, restrictions or prohibitions on grounds of caste or religion, availability of opportunities and a sense of being a participant in the main stream of national life.
37. While the court, therefore, is to adopt the psychological approach, reasonable doubt does not mean the mind of a doubting Thomas, nor vacillation, nor pusillanimity, nor deep-seated prejudices or predilections covertly found in other walks of life. The application of the test of a reasonable man acting in similar circumstances and reasonable doubt of a reasonable man is the rule."
7. Thus, it is clear that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is special statute enacted with an intention to eradicate untouchability and to make stringent provisions in case any offence is committed against the member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.
8. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted because in spite of various measures adopted to improve the socio-economic condition of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, they had remained vulnerable. They are subjected to various offences, indignities, humiliations and harassments only because of the fact that they belong to either Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. When they assert their rights and resist untouchability, the vested interest tried to cow them down and terrorize them. Sometimes the members of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes who are in the occupation of the agricultural lands, become victims of attacks by a vested interest, therefore, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was enacted as it was considered necessary that not only the word 'atrocities' should be defined but stringent measures should be introduced to provide for higher punishments for committing such atrocities. Therefore, any act which is punishable under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2025:MPHC-GWL:7381 9 M.Cr.C. No.10867 of 2025 Atrocities) Act, 1989 has to be dealt with seriously and cannot be treated at par with offences punishable under the Panel Code. Furthermore, in order to achieve the object of protecting the dignity and rights of the members of a Scheduled Castes and a Scheduled Tribes, certain amendments have been introduced by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 making more stringent provisions. Thus, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is a special statute which has been enacted with the specific purpose of protecting the dignity, integrity as well as the rights of the members of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.
9. If the facts of this case are considered in the light of observations made by the Supreme Court in the case of Ramawatar (supra), it is clear that the complainant was called at Dhamini Triangle which is not only a public place but is also within public view. There, on the allegations of teasing mother and sister of accused persons, not only complainant was humiliated by calling him by caste name, but complainant and Devendra Aadiwasi were also beaten.
10. In the light of provisions of Articles 15, 17, and 21 of the Constitution of India, coupled with the fact that SC/ST Act is a special statute and there are specific allegations against applicants that they had not only humiliated the complainant party at a public place but it was also within public view and in fact the incident was witnessed by Satish Aadiwasi, Suraj Aadiwasi, Rakesh Aadiwasi and Geeta Aadiwasi, this Court is of considered opinion that in view of the allegations, FIR cannot be quashed on the basis of compromise.
11. Application fails and is hereby dismissed.
(G.S. Ahluwalia) Judge (and) Signature Not Verified Signed by: ANAND SHRIVASTAVA Signing time: 4/2/2025 7:39:07 PM