IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that victims of crimes under the Atrocities Act have a statutory right to be notified and heard in bail proceedings, reinforcing the importance of their participation in the criminal justice process.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

VIBHA KANKANWADI, J. - Present Appeal has been filed by the appellant under Sec. 14-A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (for short "the Atrocities Act") to challenge the order of rejection of anticipatory bail by the learned Special Judge under the Atrocities Act / Additional Sessions Judge-5, Parbhani, dtd. 20/3/2023.

2. The prosecution story is that the present respondent No.2, who is a major married lady, resides with her husband and two children. Her husband and she herself were doing the work of sugar cane cutting since last two years. They had gone to village Tura in October 2021 and completed the work by the end of February 2022. One tractor was engaged for the work of transporting sugar cane after it is cut till it is taken to sugar factory. The present appellant - accused was driving the said tractor. Accused had knowledge about the fact that respondent No.2 / informant is member of Scheduled Caste. In the month of January 2022 around 8.00 p.m., the accused had caught hold of the hand of the informant with ill-eye and told that he likes her. When informant told that she would inform the said act to her husband, accused had given threat to kill and therefore, she kept quiet. Informant has then stated in the First Information Report (in short "FIR") that on 18/1/2022 around 9.00 a.m., the accused had taken her forcibly in a field and had committed forcible intercourse with her. Accused had then given her threat to kill. In the month of March 2022 also accused had committed forcible intercourse with her. Accused had given phone call around 11.30 p.m., on 18/3/2022 and asked as to why she was not talking with her. Her husband had then seen the call record and upon inquiry, she told about the said fact to the husband. Later on the informant came to know that she was pregnant and she was sure that she was not pregnant from her husband. She was aware about the fact that her pregnancy was from the accused. Informant had also consulted the doctor, who had then advised her for abortion. Her husband then gone to the accused to ask as to why he had done the said act. From the said dispute the accused had lodged a report against her husband resulting in lodging of FIR for the offence under Sec. 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Due to fear of defamation informant had not immediately lodged any report but then she ultimately lodged the report on 23/2/2023.

3. Present appellant had filed application under Sec. 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure vide Criminal Bail Application No.166 of 2023 before the learned Special Judge under the Atrocities Act, Parbhani and as aforesaid, the said application has been rejected on 20/3/2023.

4. We have heard learned Advocate Mr. Salunke for the appellant and learned APP Ms. Choudhari for the State.

5. At this stage itself, we would like to say that upon consideration of the impugned order, we could find out that though present respondent No.2 / informant was arrayed as respondent No.2 in the bail application, we could not find a single sentence in the impugned order stating that notice was served on the informant and she was heard. The learned Special Judge appears to have not adopted the proper procedure. When we made inquiry with the learned Advocate for the appellant, taking instructions from the Advocate who represented the appellant before the Special Judge; he submitted that notice was issued to the victim - respondent No.2 and she had filed copy of one non-cognizable offence across the Bar. We are unable to find any reference of the same in the impugned order. Learned Special Judge ought to have considered the substantive right that has been given to the victim under Sec. 15-A of the Atrocities Act. We would like to rely on the decision in Hariram Bhambhi vs. Satyanarayan and another, 2021 SCC OnLine 1010, wherein it has been observed that victims are often relegated to the role of being a spectator in the criminal justice syste