With a view to prevent the misuse of provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (SC/ST Act), the Supreme Court on Tuesday held that there is no absolute bar for granting anticipatory bail in a matter under the Act.
The Apex Court also added that a public servant can be arrested after grant of approval by some senior officer.
The bench comprising of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit further noted that to avoid false implication of an innocent, preliminary enquiry will be done by the DSP to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the Atrocities Act and that the allegations are not frivolous.
“It has been judicially acknowledged that there are instances of abuse of the Act by vested interests against political opponents in panchayat, municipal or other elections, to settle private civil disputes arising out of property, monetary disputes, employment disputes and seniority disputes. It may be noticed that by way of rampant misuse, complaints are largely being filed particularly against public servants/ quasi judicial/ judicial officers with oblique motive for satisfaction of vested interests,” said the bench.
“The Legislature never intended to use the Atrocities Act as an instrument to blackmail or to wreak personal vengeance” or “to deter public servants from performing their bona fide duties,” it said.
“This court is not expected to adopt a passive or negative role and remain a bystander or a spectator if violation of rights is observed. It is necessary to fashion new tools and strategies so as to check injustice and violation of fundamental rights. No procedural technicality can stand in the way of enforcement of fundamental rights… Role of this court travels beyond merely dispute settling and directions can certainly be issued which are not directly in conflict with a valid statute,” it said.
Justifying its decision to allow anticipatory bail where there was no prima facie case, the bench said: “Unless exclusion of anticipatory bail is limited to genuine cases… there will be no protection available to innocent citizens. Thus, limiting the exclusion of anticipatory bail in such cases is essential for protection of fundamental right of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.”
The top court further observed that the Government official cannot be prosecuted on mere allegation of committing an offence under the Act without the sanction of appointing authority.
