Dama Seshadri Naidu, J.

1. Petitioner Surendran Nair is a workman in BPCL-Kochi Refinery. On 16.10.2015, Surendran, while on duty, involved in an altercation-verbal abuse, as the employer terms it-with two other employees. Surendran submitted the Ext.Pl complaint with the management, so did Sajeevakumar, one of the two other workmen. He filed the Ext.P2 complaint on the same day. The allegation is that the petitioner abused him in his caste name.

2. The dispute, then, spilled over from workplace to the public arena: the police station. The petitioner lodged the Ext.P4 FIR with the police, under Sections 34 and 294 (b) of IPC. Sajeevakumar, too, lodged an FIR against the petitioner under Sections 294(b) and 506(1), read with Section 3(1)(X) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

3. Crime No.852/2015, registered at Surendran's behest, ended in acquittal. It was on the ground that the alleged incident occurred at a place that cannot be termed a "public place". In Sajeevakumar's case against Surendran, this Court stayed it. Finally, through the Ext.P33 judgment, dt.06.02.2018, this Court allowed Surendran to plead for discharge after the c