The court held that merely calling the complainant by the accused persons from his caste (Bouri) does not constitute an offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act as there is nothing to show that there was any intention of insulting or humiliating the complainant by the accused persons.

SHIB SADHAN SADHU, J.

1. The petitioners by filing this application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as Cr. P.C. for the sake of brevity) seek to quash the entire proceedings of the G.R. Case No. 1225 of 2014 arising out of Barabani P.S. Case No. 91 of 2014 dated 17.5.2014 under Sections 341/323/447/506/34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the SC/ST Act) pending before the Court of Learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Asansol.

2. The case of the petitioners as made out in the petition is that petitioner No. 1 and petitioner No. 2 are brothers and rest petitioners are the sons of petitioner No. 1. They are the owners of the disputed plot of land of which the father of the O.P. No. 2 is also a co-owner. The petitioners no. 1 & 2 filed a suit being T.S. No. 93 of 2014 against the family members of O.P. No. 2 which is pending before the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division), Asansol and in which an order of injunction has been passed in favour of the petitioners. The O.P. No. 2 and his associates have been illegally excavating mine and minerals from the disputed property without taking any consent from the petitioners. The petitioners lodged complaints before the various authorities against such illegal activities of the O.P. No. 2 and his associates. The Revenue Inspector issued notice to both the parties for spot enquiry on the disputed land on 28.2.2014. When the petitioners appeared there on 28.2.2014 in pursuance of such notice the O.P. No. 2 and his associates assaulted them for which they lodged a complaint in Barabani Police Station but the police only made a diary being G.D. Entry No. 1293 dated 28.2.2014. Thereafter police filed a report which was registered as N.G.R. Case No. 7488 of 2014.

3. Afterwards as a retaliatory measure the O.P. No. 2 filed a complaint before the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Asansol alleging that on 28.2.2014 at about 12.10 P.M. the accused/ petitioners came to the disputed land and forcefully entered into the surrounded area of the complainant/O.P. No. 2 being armed with lathi, hocky stick and other weapons and assaulted him and his witnesses causing serious injury and they also snatched Rs. 1800/- from the complainant and threatened them to kill and abused him by calling his caste name and thereby intentionally lowered his social prestige before the villagers. The Learned Magistrate forwarded the said complaint to the Officer-in-Charge, Barabani Police Station who on receipt of the complaint registered Barabani P.S. Case No. 91 of 2014 dated 17.5.2014 which was investigated by Assistant Commissioner of Police (E.B.) and after completion of investigation charge sheet was submitted against the present petitioners under Sections 341/323/447/506/34 IPC and under Section 3(1) (x) of the SC/ST Act. The petitioners have challenged the continuation of the proceeding by filing the instant Revisional Application.

4. I have heard Mr. Prabir Mitra, Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners and have given a close and critical look into the written note of argument submitted by him. I have also heard Mr. Ayan Basu, Learned Counsel representing the State. I have perused the entire materials available on record and the case diary meticulously.

5. Mr. Mitra, Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that the written complaint turned FIR does not bear any whisper that the petitioners do not belong to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes community and that the Opposite Party No. 2 was insulted or intimidated or humiliated only because the complainant belongs to Scheduled Caste community or in a place within public view. Therefore, it cannot be said that any offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act is attracted. He further contended that the investigation w