ORDER

1. One Ramachandran, who was the President of the Pattambi Congress Mandlam, lodged a complaint against the respondent alleging that on 24-10-1992, the respondent at 3.30 p.m. took one eight-year-old girl named Elizabeth P. Kora to the classroom in Pattambi Government D.P. School, with an intent to dishonour and outrage her modesty. On 11-11-1992, the said complaint was treated as a first information report under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code. Subsequently on 21-11-1992, the investigating officer came to know that the father of the victim belonged to the Mala Aryan community, which is considered to be a Scheduled Tribe in the State of Kerala and lodged another first information report, charging the respondent under Section 3(1)(xi) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). On the basis of the said first information reports, the Chief Judicial Magistrate summoned the respondent taking cognizance against him under Section 3(1)(xi) of the Act as well as under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code. Aggrieved, the respondent filed a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for quashing the charges framed under Section 3(1 )(xi) of the Act. The High Court was of the view that since the victims parents have embraced Christianity, therefore, the victim ceased to be a member of the Scheduled Tribe. On this premise, the High Court quashed the charges framed against the respondent under Section 3(1)(xi) of the Act. It is against

432 SCC (2004) 3 see the said judgment, the State of Kerala has preferred this appeal, by way of special leave petition.

2. When the matter came up before a Bench of two learned Judges, they were of the view that this matter should be heard by a larger Bench. It is by this way, the matter has come up before us.

3. The question which has been raised at the Bar is not free from doubt.

The Constitution provides for declaration of certain castes and tribes as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in terms of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution of India. Article 342 reads as under:

"342. Scheduled Tribes.-(1) The President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.

(2) Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification."

4. The object of the said provision is to provide right for the purpose of grant of protection to the Scheduled Tribes having regard to the economic and educational backwardness wherefrom they suffer. For the aforementioned purpose only the President of India has been authorised to issue the notification to parts or groups within the tribes. It is not in dispute that the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 made in terms of the aforementioned provisions is exhaustive. The question which is required to be posed at the outset is what is a tribe?

"Tribe has been defined as a social group of a simple kind, the members of which speak common dialect, have a single government and act together for such common purposes as warfare. Other typical characteristics include a common name, a contiguous territory, a relatively uniform culture or way of life and a tradition of common f descent. Tribes are usually composed of a number of local communities e.g. bands, villages or neighbourhoods and are often aggregated in clusters of a higher order called nations. The term is