Calling someone by his profession doesn’t attract SC/ST Act: Allahabad High Court

Lucknow: In a significant ruling the Allahabad High Court has said that merely addressing someone by his profession does not attract the SC/ST Act unless it is proved that such words were used deliberately with the intention to humiliate the person, hailing from that community.

A single bench comprising Justice Anil Kumar-X, gave this ruling on a criminal appeal challenging the summoning order by a special SC/ST court in Gautam Budh Nagar district in 2024 in a case pertaining to a wage dispute between a domestic worker and her employer.

The SC/ST Court had summoned the petitioner under sections of the SC/ST Act besides sections 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (threatening someone to cause alarm or harm) of the IPC.

The complainant had contended that she used to wash clothes of the petitioner and that he ‘abused’ her and addressed her by her caste when she asked for payment of her wages.

The HC found that the petitioner had addressed the complainant as ‘dhoban’ (washer woman). It said that a contractual relationship existed between the complainant and the petitioner.

The HC said that calling someone by his or her profession would not attract the provisions of the SC/ST Act unless it was established that such words were used with the intention to humiliate the person hailing from that community.

The court partially allowed the criminal appeal and quashed the summoning orders to the extent they related to the SC/ST Act. It said that proceedings under the other sections of the IPC would continue in the trial court.