SC/ST Act: Offence Under Section 3(1)(u) Attracted Only When Committed Against Community's Members 'As a Group': Madras High Court

Facts 

In his complaint to the Special Court under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Dr. R. Radhakrishnan claimed that the department head had accused him of misbehaving with female students and other misdeeds in a letter to the university. 

He claimed that Dr. Rita John levelled the accusations against him just because he is a member of the Schedule Caste and was seeking a FIR under the SC/ST Act. 
However, the University took no action in response to Dr. John's communication that would have proved that the accusations were untrue. 

Arguments

Claims made by Dr. John in her complaint that Radhakrishnan possesses supernatural abilities and that he "warned" her that her husband will die in six months if she disagrees with him, the court stated that she allegedly only submitted the complaint to the university and that this would not constitute an act of physical harm or mental anguish on the petitioner "by allegations of practising witchcraft." 

The petitioner had also contested the trial court's method of operation. He said that the trial judge dismissed the petition without even numbering it, despite recording his sworn declaration.

Judgement 

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act's Section 3 (1) (u) only applies when someone is attempting to incite animosity toward SC or ST community members as a whole, according to the Madras High Court, which recently dismissed a university professor's petition challenging a trial court's refusal to order an investigation into his complaint.