JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. On 9 June 2018, the appellant lodged a report at Police Station Kishangarh, District Ajmer on the basis of which FIR No. 116/2018 for offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 of the Penal Code was registered. In his complaint, the appellant stated that on 8 June 2018, his younger brother Ram Niwas had gone out for carrying out labour work. The appellant was informed by his mother that evening that Ram Niwas was away to meet his brother-in-law, Kishan Lal and that he would not return for the day. On 9 June 2018, Ram Niwas’s spouse informed the appellant that her brother Kishan Lal had taken Ram Niwas in a vehicle at about 3.00 o’clock. The local residents informed the appellant that the dead body of Ram Niwas was thrown out of a vehicle at a specified place in the area of Police Station Kishangarh. Investigation commenced on the basis of the report lodged by the appellant. Since the deceased belonged to a Scheduled Caste, offences punishable under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989¹ [“SC/ST Act”] were added. The first respondent was arrested. On 6 September 2018, a final