 NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has deprecated the practice of upper castes denigrating the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and said "this is a disgrace to our country."
"Our Constitution provides for equality which includes special help and care for the oppressed and weaker sections who have been historically downtrodden. The SC/ST communities in our opinion are also equal citizens, and are entitled to a life of dignity in view of Article 21 of the Constitution as interpreted by this court," said a Bench consisting of Justices Altamas Kabir and Markandey Katju.
The Bench was dealing with a criminal appeal whether the use of the word `Chamar' (an SC name) was an offence attracting the provisions of The Scheduled Castes and The Schedules Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Writing the judgment, Justice Katju said: "In the age of democracy, no people and no community should be treated as being inferior. However, the truth is that in many parts of our country persons belonging to the SC/ST are oppressed, humiliated and insulted. This is a disgrace to our country." The Bench said: "The caste system is a curse on our nation and the sooner it is destroyed the better. In fact, it is dividing our country at a time when we must all be united as Indians if we wish to face the gigantic problems confronting us - poverty, unemployment, price rise, corruption, etc. The 1989 Act is a salutary legislative measure in that direction." The Bench said: "In this connection, it may be mentioned that in America to use the word `nigger' today for an African-American is regarded as highly offensive and is totally unacceptable, even if it was acceptable 50 years ago. In our opinion, even if the word `Chamar' was not regarded as offensive at one time in our country, today it is certainly a highly offensive word when used in a derogatory sense to insult and humiliate a person. Hence, it should never be used with that intent. "In our opinion, calling a member of the Scheduled Caste `Chamar' with intent to insult or humiliate him in a place within public view is certainly an offence under Section 3(1) (x) of the Act. Whether there was intent to insult or humiliate [a person] by using the word `Chamar' will, of course, depend on the context in which it was used." In the instant case, a case was registered by Vinod Nagar, working as a driver, alleging that Delhi-based Swaran Singh, his wife and daughter insulted him, calling him `Chuda-Chamar.' The Delhi High Court rejected the appellants' plea to quash the framing of charge and the present appeal is directed against this judgment. The Bench said: "In a country like ours with so much diversity - so many religions, castes, ethnic and lingual groups, etc. - all communities and groups must be treated with respect, and no one should be looked down upon as inferior. That is the only way we can keep our country united." The Bench held that a prima facie case had been made out against Singh's wife and daughter to proceed further with the trial, but not against him, first appellant. |
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