IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Reserved on: April 09, 2025 Pronounced on: July 08, 2025 JAGDEV SINGH AND ANR. -PETITIONERS V/S STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. -RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KULDEEP TIWARI Present: Mr. Atul Goyal, Advocate with Mr. P.S. Saini, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Pardeep Bajaj, D.A.G., Punjab. Ms./Mrs. Gurmeet Kaur, Advocate for the respondent(s)-U.O.I.

Mr. Vijay Pal, Advocate with Ms. Manisha Nehra, Advocate for respondent No.6.

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KULDEEP TIWARI, J.

1. The hereinafter extracted directions, as embodied in the order/ notice dated 24.01.2022 drawn by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (hereinafter referred to as the ‘National Commission’), caused pain to the petitioners and consequently propelled them to institute thereagainst the instant writ petition.

“Whereas a petition/Complaint/Information has been received by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes from Sh. Sucha Singh dated 14-01-2022 as enclosed and the Commission has decided to investigate/inquire into the matter in pursuance of the powers conferred upon it under Article 338 of the Constitution of India. You are hereby requested to enquire about the matter through Gazetted Officer posted at Police Headquarter and submit the facts & information on the action taken on the allegations/matters to the undersigned within 30 days after receipt of this notice either by post or in person or by any other means of communication.

2. Post the drawing of the impugned directions, FIR No.50 dated 25.03.2023, under Sections 323, 506 of the IPC, and Section 3(1) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘SC/ST Act’), was registered against the petitioners at P.S. Dugri, District Police Commissionerate Ludhiana. Moreover, Challan was presented against the petitioners on 05.03.2024. Therefore, prayer is also made for setting aside all the legal proceedings, including the FIR and Challan, emanating from the impugned directions.

3. What emerges from perusal of the record available before this Court is that, the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court had, while issuing notice upon this writ petition on 09.08.2024, ordered the further proceedings to remain stayed.

4. Before proceeding to gauge the validity of the impugned directions, it is deemed imperative to initially make a concise and compendious survey of the facts.

FACTUAL MATRIX

5. Succinctly stated, the bedrock for issuance of the impugned directions was constituted by a complaint made by the respondent No.6.

The allegations penned down by the respondent No.6 in his complaint are that, he has/had some monetary dispute with petitioner No.1. On 29.07.2021, when he visited the residence of petitioner No.1 in order to discuss and settle the dispute, petitioner No.1, who was in an inebriated state, used derogatory language targeting his caste identity and also assaulted him with a leather belt. Not only this, petitioner No.2 (wife of petitioner No.1) also joined petitioner No.1 in the assault and inflicted injuries on him with a stick. Moreover, the petitioners also threatened to kill him.

6. Consequently, the National Commission drew the impugned directions on 24.01.2022. The outcome of the impugned directions was that, an inquiry was conducted and during the course thereof, one Subhash Kumar and one Ravi Kumar furnished their respective affidavits dated 11.02.2022 and 15.03.2022. Subsequently, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Crime, B.O.I., Punjab, Chandigarh, submitted a report dated 12.05.2022 to the Director, B.O.I., Punjab, Chandigarh, stating that respondent No.6 had recorded a statement that negotiations regarding a compromise with petitioner No.1 were ongoing, and he therefore sought one month's time. However, when no compromise could be reached, respondent No.6 filed an application dated 30.05.2022 before the National Commission seeking action against the petitioners. As a result, a detailed i