Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed a criminal case registered against two senior executives of Star Entertainment Media Pvt Ltd over an alleged caste-based remark in a Marathi television serial aired more than a decade ago.
A division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Manjusha Deshpande set aside an FIR lodged by the Wada police in Palghar district against Bhakti Apte, executive producer, and Shrabani Deodhar, programming head of the company’s Marathi channel, Star Pravah.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by an activist alleging that objectionable words referring to a scheduled caste were used in an episode of a serial broadcast on August 22, 2012. The complainant claimed that the dialogue, spoken by the lead character in the context of warding off the evil eye, was deliberately intended to insult and humiliate members of the scheduled caste community.
Based on the complaint, the police invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, along with sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Civil Rights Act.
Quashing the proceedings, the court held that a mere reference to the name of a caste, without the requisite intent, does not attract the penal provisions of the Atrocities Act. The bench observed that the serial contained only a passing reference to the Mahar caste and that such reference, by itself, was insufficient to constitute an offence. The court also observed that intention to insult, intimidate or humiliate a specific member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe in a public place is a mandatory element of the offence. It further noted that even if the allegations were taken at face value, no prima facie offence could be attributed to the accused.
“Mere use or reference to the name of a caste, included in the list of scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, cannot in itself constitute an offence, unless it is referred to or used intentionally to inflict insult, intimidation or humiliation, on a particular member of a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe,” the bench said while striking down the criminal proceedings.
Holding that the essential ingredients of the offence under Section 3(1)(x) (intentionally insult or intimidate a member of a Scheduled Caste or Tribe with intent to humiliate them in any place within public view) of the Atrocities Act were not made out, the court struck down the FIR and all consequential criminal proceedings against the two executives.
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