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Supreme Court stays trial against Vyapam whistleblower Anand Rai under SC/ST Act
A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and PK Mishra passed the order on Rai’s petition, which referred to the case as an instance of “malicious prosecution”
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the trial against Anand Rai, the whistleblower in the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, in connection with a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Rai told the court that the case was designed to silence him for his public activism.
A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and PK Mishra passed the order on Rai’s petition, which referred to the case as an instance of “malicious prosecution”, and asserted that the safeguards and requirements under the 1989 Act were given a go-by.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Rai along with senior advocate Vivek Tankha, pointed out that no elements of the offences pertaining to the SC/ST Act were present in the complaint against him.
Sibal stated that the entire investigation was conducted by an officer below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, while Rule 7 of the SC/ST Rules requires investigations into offences under the SC/ST Act to be conducted by an officer of a DSP rank or above.
Rai’s petition, filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi, said, “The prosecution has failed to show any caste-specific reference or intentional insult aimed at the complainant or any public servant belonging to Scheduled Castes or Tribes.” It further stated, “The petitioner has been targeted due to his public activism and ideological positions, which have at times been critical of the government. The present prosecution is not a bona fide exercise of criminal law but a tool for silencing dissent.”
Rai approached the top court to challenge the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order of July 3, which had dismissed his appeal to quash the order for framing charges against him issued by the trial court at Ratlam.
Rai, a doctor, had exposed irregularities in the medical admissions conducted in the state, known as Vyapam scam, that led to the matter being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The allegations against Rai pertained to the unveiling of a statue of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, a tribal icon, in November 2022. A rally was conducted by the JAYS (Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti) organisation, where certain unruly individuals allegedly obstructed the convoy of elected representatives and public officials, resulting in allegations of unlawful assembly, obstruction of public servants, assault and use of criminal force against him.
