E-Paper
Teacher booked for casteist slur in 2016, over use of society tap, acquitted
PUNE A teacher, who was accused of levelling casteist slur against a group of slum-dwelling women, including the complainant in 2016, was acquitted by a court in Pune
PUNE A teacher, who was accused of levelling casteist slur against a group of slum-dwelling women, including the complainant in 2016, was acquitted by a court in Pune. While the order was issued on Monday, a copy was made available on Wednesday evening.
The acquittal was granted by the court of special judge Sharayoo Sahare with public prosecutor VL Patil and defence lawyer advocates Amjad Khan and Hrishikesh Subhedar.
“No incident is mentioned by the prosecution as to on what ground the accused is aware about the caste of the complainant. She has not used the castiest slur specifically to the complainant. It is of general nature and character for which accused cannot be held guilty,” read the order by additional sessions judge Sahare.
A complaint in the matter was lodged by a woman who claimed that she, along with a group of women from her slum, was abused by the teacher for using the tap in the society. The accused woman, a 57-year-old school teacher is a resident of Vivekanand Society.
“The accused was the chairman of Swami Vivekananda cooperative housing society and on the open plot of the society, many locals had built their houses. The accused took an initiative and corresponded with the Pune Municipal Corporation and police. Thus, in an anti-encroachment drive, the slum was demolished and hence a false complaint under the atrocities act was filed against her. Thus, the court observed that the FIR against the accused is not lodged in natural course of incident but as a pressurising tactics. The court also observed that no document has been filed by the complainant to prove that she belongs to scheduled caste/scheduled tribe. Moreover, in order to attract the sections under the atrocities act, the alleged incident must take place in a public place and in a public view. However, the prosecution failed to prove it and the accused was acquitted,” said Advocate Subhedar.
“They do not have caste certificate. If you look at the papers, it is observed by the court that the case must be registered by natural sequence. Therefore, the court inferred that the FIR was made in an afterthought. Their complaint was through garbage collectors’ samiti under leadership of Baba Adhav. They made a draft and got multiple signs. This happens in multiple such cases. She is a teacher and she was arrested and later released on bail as there was no IPC section,” said Public prosecutor Vijay Patil.
Additional SP of Baramati, who was then investigating officer in the case, was called for this case among 3-4 witnesses who were examined in the case.
The case was under Section 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and was registered at Sahakarnagar police station.
