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Prayagraj, September 21 (HS). Allahabad High Court has taken seriously the misuse of SC-ST Act made for the protection of marginalized and weak sections of the society in the greed for personal economic gain and has directed the state government to develop a monitoring system.
The court said that until the system is developed, the incident and allegation should be verified before filing an FIR so that only the real victim can get protection and compensation and those who take compensation from the government by making false complaints should be punished by taking action under section 182 (now section 214).
The court said that misuse of the law promoting social justice creates doubts on the justice system and harms public trust. Therefore, verification of FIR is necessary. Police and judicial officers should be trained for this.
The court has returned the compensation of Rs. 75,000 taken from the government by making a false complaint and cancelled the SC-ST Act case proceedings going on in the Additional Sessions Judge-Special Court due to confirmation of settlement between the two parties. This order has been given by Justice Manju Rani Chauhan while accepting the petition of Bihari and two others.
It is known that the police filed a charge sheet on the SC-ST Act FIR registered in Kaila Devi police station Sambhal. The government gave compensation of 75 thousand rupees to the victim. Later, when both the parties reached a settlement, a petition was filed to cancel the criminal case. The court summoned the complainant and ordered him to return the compensation taken from the government. An order was given to submit a demand draft in the name of the District Social Welfare Officer to the DM and submit a report.
The court said that the Supreme Court has said in its judgment that both cognizable and non-cognizable crimes can be settled by compromise. Therefore, the compromise between the parties was considered correct and ordered that the remaining outstanding compensation of Rs 25,000 should not be paid. The complainant, when he came to the High Court, said that he had filed a false report on the instigation of the villagers. He will be cautious in future.
The court said that this Act is a means of providing immediate justice to the weaker sections of the society but in many cases it has been found that false cases are being registered to get compensation from the government.
The court said that the person who files a false case and takes government compensation should be held accountable and punished. Also, a monitoring system should be developed so that the law made to provide protection cannot be misused and the real victim can get relief.
The court said that false cases are hurting the actual incident. They are creating doubts on the judicial process. They are destroying the trust of the people, which should be stopped. The court has directed to send a copy of the order to all the district judges and DGP.