JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. An interesting question of law arises in this appeal. Background facts in a nutshell are as follows:

Appellant filed First Information Report (in short the ‘FIR’) under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short the ‘Code’) at Newasa Police Station, District Ahmednagar, alleging commission of offence punishable under Section 3(1)(xi) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (in short the ‘Act’). A petition under Section 482 of Code was filed by respondent No.3 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘accused’). The basic stand was that in the FIR the caste of accused was not mentioned and therefore the proceedings cannot be continued and deserved to be quashed. The High Court placing reliance on earlier decisions of the High Court allowed the petition.

3. In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the view taken by the Bombay High Court is contrary to one taken by the Orissa High Court. It is submitted that the offence primarily relates to purported perpetration of crime on the victim because of his or her caste. It is for the accused to show th