New Delhi, Dec 26 (NationPress) The Calcutta High Court has determined that alleged caste-based abuses communicated via telephone, without any public presence, do not prima facie engage the stringent provisions of the SC/ST Act.

In the process of addressing an anticipatory bail request, a single judge Bench led by Justice Jay Sengupta noted that the allegations in the FIR concerned insults supposedly delivered over a phone call, failing to meet the essential criteria of Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 at the prima facie stage.

"Given that the alleged insults were made via telephone and not visible to the public, the provisions of this special Act do not apply at the prima facie level, and thus, the anticipatory bail request cannot be maintained," the high court stated in its order.

Justice Sengupta was reviewing an anticipatory bail plea under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the petitioner asserted that no prima facie case existed under the SC/ST Act, and the other offenses listed in the FIR were bailable.

The prosecution opposed this motion, referencing the case diary and witness statements.

However, the Calcutta High Court characterized this case as "peculiar," noting that aside from the provisions of the special Act, other allegations were indeed bailable.

Weighing the overall situation, Justice Sengupta dismissed the anticipatory bail application while permitting the petitioner to surrender to the jurisdictional court and request regular bail within a four-week timeframe.

"Should the petitioner file a bail application, it must be considered in accordance with the law," the bench instructed, ensuring that the petitioner would not face arrest during this four-week duration.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court, in a separate case, ruled that derogatory comments made regarding caste within the "four corners of the chambers" of a public official, where no public members were present, would not constitute an offense under the SC/ST Act, thereby dismissing the criminal proceedings stemming from such claims.