Context
The Calcutta High Court has held that casteist slurs made on social media can attract provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, observing that “public view” is not confined to physical spaces.
Explanation
- Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act criminalise intentional insult, intimidation or caste-based abuse of an SC/ST person “in any place within public view.”
- Essential ingredients include: the victim must belong to an SC/ST community, the accused generally must not, and the insult must be caste-based and made within public view.
- In Swaran Singh v. State (2008), the Supreme Court distinguished a public place from a place within public view.
- The Calcutta HC held that digital spaces can satisfy “public view” where content is visible to members of the public.
- The Kerala HC has similarly recognised that statutory interpretation may adapt to technological change.
- However, courts must still examine whether all statutory ingredients are satisfied in each case.
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