Public servants can get bail for neglect of duties under Atrocities Act: HC

The Bombay high court (HC) recently held that offences punishable under section 4 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,

The Bombay high court (HC) recently held that offences punishable under section 4 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, are bailable.

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This means that public servants booked for wilful neglect of duties required to be performed under the Act are entitled to be released on bail forthwith.

Upholding a lower court order that had denied anticipatory bail to the petitioner, justice PR Bora said that an offence registered under this section “has to be treated as a bailable offence.”

The court was hearing plea filed by Rajendra Nale, an assistant conservator of forest at Aurangabad, who had been booked by Kinwat police station in Nanded.

On July 4, an additional sessions judge at Nanded refused to entertain Nale’s anticipatory bail plea, stating that the offence was bailable and as such, police were bound to release Nale on bail if he was arrested and willing to furnish adequate surety.

Following this, Nale had approached the HC. Justice Bora said that under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), offences punishable with imprisonment for less than three years or only with fine are bailable.

Further, the judge noted that section 4 of the Atrocities Act prescribes imprisonment of six months to a year.

“Having regard to the quantum of punishment provided for the offence under section 4 of the Atrocities Act, the said offence falls in the category of bailable offences,” he concluded.