Mumbai: In a significant ruling with implications for media content and the interpretation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR registered against Marathi television channel Star Pravah and its senior officials over the alleged use of an objectionable term referring to the Mahar community in a television serial.
The judgment was delivered on December 23 by a division bench comprising Justice Manish Pitale and Justice Manjusha Deshpande. The court held that the mere mention of a caste or community name in a television programme does not automatically constitute an offence under the SC/ST Act, unless it is accompanied by a clear and deliberate intention to insult, intimidate, or humiliate members of that community.
The case stemmed from an episode of the Marathi serial Laxmi Versus Saraswati, which was aired on Star Pravah on August 22, 2012. The complainant, Rahul Gaikwad, alleged that during a particular scene, a character used the word “mhara-poranchi,” which he claimed was derogatory and offensive towards the Mahar community, a Scheduled Caste. Based on this allegation, an FIR was registered under provisions of the SC/ST Act against the channel’s programming head, executive producer, director, writer, and the actor who delivered the dialogue.
During the hearing, Star Pravah contended that the disputed word was not part of the approved script and was uttered spontaneously by the actor during the shoot. The channel argued that neither the management nor its officials had any criminal intent or prior knowledge of the actor’s choice of words, and therefore could not be held vicariously liable under the stringent provisions of the SC/ST Act.
The High Court, while agreeing with the channel’s submissions, underscored that Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act requires certain essential ingredients to be satisfied. One such mandatory requirement is that the accused must not belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. The bench noted that the FIR failed to even allege that the accused persons were members of communities outside the SC/ST category. Additionally, the court observed that a television channel, as a corporate entity, cannot be attributed a caste identity.
The bench further clarified that the actual utterance of the allegedly offensive word was made by the actor alone, and there was no material to suggest that the channel officials had intentionally sought to insult or demean any community.
Emphasising the need to prevent misuse of the law, the court ruled that caste-related references become punishable only when used deliberately to humiliate or intimidate in public view. Finding no such intent or supporting evidence in the present case, the Bombay High Court quashed the FIR against the programming head and executive producer of Star Pravah, bringing relief to the channel and setting an important precedent for future cases involving creative expression and criminal liability.
